LIBRARY 


University  of  California. 


GIFT    OF 


N 


Class 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/christianscienceOOeddyrich 


CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

VERSUS 

PANTHEISM 

AND 

OTHER   MESSAGES 

TO 

THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 


CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

VERSUS 

PANTHEISM 

AND     OTHER    MESSAGES 

TO 

THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

BY 

MARY   BAKER   G.  EDDY 

PASTOR    EMERITUS    AND    AUTHOR    OF    SCIENCE    AND    HEALTH 
WITH    KEY    TO   THE    SCRIPTURES 

Second  Edition 


BOSTON,  U.S.A. 

Published  by  Allison  V.  Stewart 

Falmouth  and  St.  Paul  Streets 

1909 


Copyright,  igo8 
By  Mary  Baker  G.   Eddy 


All  rights  resernjed 


THB   UNIVERSITY   PRESS,   CAMBRIDGE,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Christian  Science  versus  Pantheism  ....  i 
Message  to  The  Mother  Church,  June,  1900  19 
Message  to  The  Mother  Church,  June,  1901        37 

Message  to  The  First  Church  of  Christ, 
Scientist,  or  The  Mother  Church,  June 
I5i  1902 75 


182145 


CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

VERSUS 

PANTHEISM 


BY 
MARY   BAKER   G.  EDDY 

PASTOR  EMERITUS  OF  THE  FIRST  CHURCH   OF  CHRIST,  SCIENTIST 

BOSTON,    AND    AUTHOR    OF    SCIENCE    AND    HEALTH 

WITH    KEY    TO    THE    SCRIPTURES 


Twenty-first  Edition 


BOSTON,  U.S.A. 

Published  by  Allison  V.  Stewart 

Falmouth  and  St.  Paul  Streets 

1909 


Copyright,  i8q8 
By  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 

All  rights  reserved 


THB  UNIVBRSITY   PRESS,   CAMBRIDGE,  U.S.A. 


i 


Of 


CHKISTIAN  SCIENCE 

VERSUS  PANTHEISM 


PASTOR'S  MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER 
CHURCH,  ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE 
JUNE  COMMUNION,  1898 

Subject  :  'Not  Pantheism,  hut  Christian  Science. 

"DELOVED  brethren,  since  last  you  gathered  at  the 
•■-'  feast  of  our  Passover,  the  winter  winds  have  come 
and  gone ;  the  rushing  winds  of  March  have  shrieked  and 
hummed  their  hymns;  the  frown  and  smile  of  April,  the 
laugh  of  May,  have  fled ;  and  the  roseate  blush  of  joyous 
June  is  here  and  ours. 

In  unctuous  unison  with  nature,  mortals  are  hoping  and 
working,  putting  off  outgrown,  wornout,  or  soiled  gar- 
ments —  the  pleasures  and  pains  of  sensation  and  the 
sackcloth  of  waiting  —  for  the  springtide  of  Soul.  For 
what  a  man  seeth  he  hopeth  not  for,  but  hopeth  for  what 
he  hath  not  seen,  and  waiteth  patiently  the  appearing 
thereof.  The  night  is  far  spent,  and  day  is  not  distant  in 
the  horizon  of  Truth  —  even  the  day  when  all  people 
shall  know  and  acknowledge  one  God  and  one  Christianity. 


MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 


Christian  Science  not  Pantheism 

At  this  period  of  enlightenment,  a  declaration  from  the 
pulpit  that  Christian  Science  is  pantheism  is  anomalous  to 
those  who  know  whereof  they  speak  —  who  know  that 
Christian  Science  is  Science,  and  therefore  is  neither 
hypothetical  nor  dogmatical,  but  demonstrable,  and 
looms  above  the  mists  of  pantheism  higher  than  Mt 
Ararat  above  the  deluge. 

Analysis  of  "Pantheism" 

According  to  Webster  the  word  "pantheism"  is  de- 
rived from  two  Greek  words  meaning  "all"  and  "god." 
Webster's  derivation  of  the  EngHsh  word  "pantheism"  is 
most  suggestive.  His  uncapitaUzed  word  "god"  gives 
the  meaning  of  pantheism  as  a  human  opinion  of  "gods 
many,"  or  mind  in  matter.  "The  doctrine  that  the  uni- 
verse, conceived  of  as  a  whole,  is  God;  that  there  is  no 
God  but  the  combined  forces  and  laws  which  are  mani- 
fested in  the  existing  universe." 

The  Standard  Dictionary  has  it  that  pantheism  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  deification  of  natural  causes,  conceived  as 
one  personified  nature,  to  which  the  religious  sentiment  is 
directed. 

Pan  is  a  Greek  prefix,  but  it  might  stand,  in  the  term 
pantheism,  for  the  mythological  deity  of  that  name;  and 
theism  for  a  behef  concerning  Deity  in  theology.  How- 
ever, Pan  in  imagery  is  preferable  to  pantheism  in  theology. 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM    3 

The  mythical  deity  may  please  the  fancy,  while  pantheism 
suits  not  at  all  the  Christian  sense  of  religion.  Pan,  as  a 
deity,  is  supposed  to  preside  over  sylvan  solitude,  and  is  a 
horned  and  hoofed  animal,  half  goat  and  half  man,  that 
poorly  presents  the  poetical  phase  of  the  genii  of  forests.^ 

My  sense  of  nature's  rich  glooms  is,  that  loneness  lacks 
but  one  charm  to  make  it  half  divine  —  a  friend,  with 
whom  to  whisper,  "SoHtude  is  sweet."  Certain  moods 
of  mind  find  an  indefinable  pleasure  in  stillness,  soft, 
silent  as  the  storm's  sudden  hush;  for  nature's  stillness 
is  voiced  with  a  hum  of  harmony,  the  gentle  murmur  of 
early  morn,  the  evening's  closing  vespers,  and  lyre  of  bird 
and  brooklet. 

f  O  sacred  solitude !  divine  retreat ! 
Choice  of  the  prudent  1  envy  of  the  great  I 
By  thy  pure  stream,  or  in  thy  evening  shade, 
We  court  fair  wisdom,  that  celestial  maid." 

Theism  is  the  belief  in  the  personality  and  infinite  mind 
of  one  supreme,  holy,  self-existent  God,  who  reveals  Him- 
self supernaturally  to  His  creation,  and  whose  laws  are 
not  reckoned  as  science.  In  religion,  it  is  a  belief  in  one 
God,  or  in  many  gods.     It  is  opposed  to  atheism  and 

*  In  Roman  mythology  (one  of  my  girlhood  studies),  Pan  stood 
for  "universal  nature  proceeding  from  the  divine  Mind  and  provi- 
dence, of  which  heaven,  earth,  sea,  the  eternal  fire,  are  so  many  mem- 
bers." Pan  was  the  god  of  shepherds  and  hunters,  leader  of  the 
nymphs,  president  of  the  mountains,  patron  of  country  life,  and  guar- 
dian of  flocks  and  herds.  His  pipe  of  seven  reeds  denotes  the  celestial 
harmony  of  the  seven  planets;  his  shepherd's  crook,  that  care  and 
providence  by  which  he  governs  the  universe;  his  spotted  skin,  the 
stars;  his  goat's  feet,  the  solidity  of  the  earth;  his  man-face,  the 
celestial  world. 


4       MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

monotheism,  but  agrees  with  certain  forms  of  pantheism 
and  polytheism.  It  is  the  doctrine  that  the  universe  owes 
its  origin  and  continuity  to  the  reason,  intellect,  and  will  of 
a  self-existent  divine  Being,  who  possesses  all  wisdom, 
goodness,  and  power,  and  is  the  creator  and  preserver  of 
man. 

A  theistic  theological  belief  may  agree  with  physics  and 
anatomy  that  reason  and  will  are  properly  classified  as 
mind,  located  in  the  brain;  also,  that  the  functions  of 
these  faculties  depend  on  conditions  of  matter,  or  brain, 
for  their  proper  exercise.  But  reason  and  will  are  human ; 
God  is  divine.  In  academics  and  in  rehgion  it  is  patent 
that  will  is  capable  of  use  and  of  abuse,  of  right  and  wrong 
action,  while  God  is  incapable  of  evil ;  that  brain  is  matter, 
and  that  there  are  many  so-called  minds;  that  He  is  the 
creator  of  man,  but  that  man  also  is  a  creator,  making 
two  creators ;  but  God  is  Mind  and  one. 

God  —  NOT  Human  Devices  —  the  Preserver 

OP  Man 

God,  Spirit,  is  indeed  the  preserver  of  man.  Then,  in 
the  words  of  the  Hebrew  singer,  "Why  art  thou  cast  down, 
O  my  soul  ?  and  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me  ?  hope 
thou  in  God :  for  I  shall  yet  praise  Him,  who  is  the  health 
of  my  countenance,  and  my  God.  .  .  .  Who  forgiveth 
all  thine  iniquities;  who  healeth  all  thy  diseases."  This 
being  the  case,  what  need  have  we  of  drugs,  hygiene,  and 
medical  therapeutics,  if  these  are  not  man's  preservers? 
By  admitting  self-evident  afl&rmations  and  then  contra- 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM     5 

dieting  them,  monotheism  is  lost  and  pantheism  is  found 
in  scholastic  theology.  Can  a  single  quality  of  God, 
Spirit,  be  discovered  in  matter?  The  Scriptures  plainly 
declare,  "The  Word  was  God;"  and  "all  things  were 
made  by  Him,"  —  the  Word.  What,  then,  can  matter 
create,  or  how  can  it  exist? 


Jesus'  Definition  op  Evil 

Did  God  create  evil?  or  is  evil  self-existent,  and  so 
possessed  of  the  nature  of  God,  good?  Since  evil  is  not 
self-made,  who  or  what  hath  made  evil?  Our  Master 
gave  the  proper  answer  for  all  time  to  this  hoary  query. 
He  said  of  evil :  "Ye  are  of  your  father,  the  devil,  and  the 
lusts  of  your  father  ye  will  do.  He  was  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning,  and  abode  not  in  the  truth  [God],  because 
there  is  no  truth  [reality]  in  him  [evil].  When  he  speaketh 
a  lie,  he  speaketh  of  his  own :  for  he  is  a  liar,  and  the  father 
of  it  [a  lie]." 

Jesus*  definition  of  devil  (evil)  explains  evil.  It  shows 
that  evil  is  both  liar  and  He,  a  delusion  and  illusion.  There- 
fore we  should  neither  believe  the  lie,  nor  believe  that  it 
hath  embodiment  or  power;  in  other  words,  we  should 
not  believe  that  a  lie,  nothing,  can  be  something,  but  deny 
it  and  prove  its  falsity.  After  this  manner  our  Master  cast 
out  evil,  healed  the  sick,  and  saved  sinners.  Knowing 
that  evil  is  a  lie,  and,  as  the  Scripture  declares,  brought 
sin,  sickness,  and  death  into  the  world,  Jesus  treated  the 
lie  summarily.  He  denied  it,  cast  it  out  of  mortal  mind, 
and  thus  healed  sickness  and  sin.    His  treatment  of  evil 


6       MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

and  disease,  Science  will  restore  and  establish,  —  first, 
because  it  was  more  effectual  than  all  other  means ;  and, 
second,  because  evil  and  disease  will  never  disappear  in 
any  other  way. 

Finally,  brethren,  let  us  continue  to  denounce  evil  as  the 
illusive  claim  that  God  is  not  supreme,  and  continue  to 
fight  it  until  it  disappears,  —  but  not  as  one  that  beateth 
the  mist,  but  lif teth  his  head  above  it  and  putteth  his  foot 
upon  a  lie. 


Evil,  as  Personified  by  the  Serpent 

Mosaic  theism  introduces  evil,  first,  in  the  form  of  a 
talking  serpent,  contradicting  the  word  of  God  and  thereby 
obtaining  social  prestige,  a  large  following,  and  changing 
the  order  and  harmony  of  God's  creation.  But  the  higher 
criticism  is  not  satisfied  with  this  theism,  and  asks.  If  God 
is  infinite  good,  what  and  where  is  evil?  And  if  Spirit 
made  all  that  was  made,  how  can  matter  be  an  intelHgent 
creator  or  coworker  with  God  ?  Again :  Did  one  Mind, 
or  two  minds,  enter  into  the  Scriptural  allegory,  in  the 
colloquy  between  good  and  evil,  God  and  a  serpent  ?  —  and 
if  two  minds,  what  becomes  of  theism  in  Christianity  ?  For 
if  God,  good,  is  Mind,  and  evil  also  is  mind,  the  Christian 
religion  has  at  least  two  Gods.  If  Spirit  is  sovereign,  how 
can  matter  be  force  or  law;  and  if  God,  good,  is  omnipo- 
tent, what  power  hath  evil  ? 

It  is  plain  that  elevating  evil  to  the  altitude  of  mind  gives 
it  power,  and  that  the  belief  in  more  than  one  spirit,  if 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM     7 

Spirit,  God,  is  infinite,  breaketh  the  First  Commandment 
in  the  Decalogue. 

Science  shows  that  a  plurality  of  minds,  or  intelligent 
matter,  signifies  more  than  one  God,  and  thus  prevents  the 
demonstration  that  the  healing  Christ,  Truth,  gave  and 
gives  in  proof  of  the  omnipotence  of  one  divine,  infinite 
Principle. 

Does  not  the  theism  or  belief,  that  after  God,  Spirit,  had 
created  all  things  spiritually,  a  material  creation  took 
place,  and  God,  the  preserver  of  man,  declared  that  man 
should  die,  lose  the  character  and  sovereignty  of  Jehovah, 
and  hint  the  gods  of  paganism  ? 

Theistic  Religions 

We  know  of  but  three  theistic  religions,  the  Mosaic,  the 
Christian,  and  the  Mohammedan.  Does  not  each  of  these 
religions  mystify  the  absolute  oneness  and  infinity  of  God, 
Spirit? 

A  close  study  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in  con- 
nection with  the  original  text  indicates,  in  the  third  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  a  lapse  in  the  Mosaic  religion,  wherein 
theism  seems  meaningless,  or  a  vague  apology  for  con- 
tradictions. It  certainly  gives  to  matter  and  evil  reahty 
and  power,  intelligence  and  law,  which  implies  Mind, 
Spirit,  God ;  and  the  logical  sequence  of  this  error  is  idol- 
atry —  other  gods. 

Again :  The  hypothesis  of  mind  in  matter,  or  more  than 
one  Mind,  lapses  into  evil  dominating  good,  matter  govern- 
ing Mind,  and  makes  sin,  disease,  and  death  inevitable, 


8      MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

despite  of  Mind,  or  by  the  consent  of  Mind  I  Next,  it 
follows  that  the  disarrangement  of  matter  causes  a  man  to 
be  mentally  deranged ;  and  the  Babylonian  sun  god,  moon 
god,  and  sin  god  find  expression  in  sun  worship,  lunacy, 
sin,  and  mortahty. 

Does  not  the  belief  that  Jesus,  the  man  of  Galilee,  is 
God,  imply  two  Gods,  one  the  divine,  infinite  Person,  the 
other  a  human  finite  personality?  Does  not  the  beUef 
that  Mary  was  the  mother  of  God  deny  the  self-existence 
of  God?  And  does  not  the  doctrine  that  Mohammed  is 
the  only  prophet  of  God  infringe  the  sacredness  of  one 
Christ  Jesus? 

Scientific  Christianity  Means  One  God 

Christianity,  as  taught  and  demonstrated  in  the  first 
century  by  our  great  Master,  virtually  annulled  the  so- 
called  laws  of  matter,  idolatry,  pantheism,  and  polytheism. 
Christianity  then  had  one  God  and  one  law,  namely, 
divine  Science.  It  said,  "Call  no  man  your  father  upon 
the  earth,  for  one  is  your  Father,  which  is  in  heaven." 
Speaking  of  himself,  Jesus  said,  "My  Father  is  greater 
than  I."  Christianity,  as  he  taught  and  demonstrated  it, 
must  ever  rest  on  the  basis  of  the  First  Commandment  and 
love  for  man. 

The  doctrines  that  embrace  pantheism,  polytheism,  and 
paganism  are  admixtures  of  matter  and  Spirit,  truth  and 
error,  sickness  and  sin,  life  and  death.  They  make  man 
the  servant  of  matter,  living  by  reason  of  it,  suffering  be- 
cause of  it,  and  dying  in  consequence  of  it.    They  con- 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM     9 

stantly  reiterate  the  belief  of  pantheism,  that  mind  "sleeps 
in  the  mineral,  dreams  in  the  animal,  and  wakes  in  man.'* 

"Infinite  Spirit"  means  one  God  and  His  creation,  and 
no  reality  in  aught  else.  The  term  "spirits"  means  more 
than  one  Spirit ;  —  in  paganism  they  stand  for  gods ;  in 
spiritualism  they  imply  men  and  women ;  and  in  Christian- 
ity they  signify  a  good  Spirit  and  an  evil  spirit. 

Is  there  a  religion  under  the  sun  that  hath  demonstrated 
one  God  and  the  four  first  rules  pertaining  thereto,  namely, 
"Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me;"  "Love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself;"  "Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect;"  "Whosoever 
liveth  and  beUeveth  in  me  shall  never  die."    (John  xi.  26.) 

What  mortal  to-day  is  wise  enough  to  do  himself  no 
harm,  to  hinder  not  the  attainment  of  scientific  Chris- 
tianity ?  Whoever  demonstrates  the  highest  humanity,  — 
long-suffering,  self-surrender,  and  spiritual  endeavor  to 
bless  others,  —  ought  to  be  aided,  not  hindered,  in  his 
holy  mission.  I  would  kiss  the  feet  of  such  a  messenger, 
for  to  help  such  a  one  is  to  help  one*s  self.  The  demon- 
stration of  Christianity  blesses  all  mankind.  It  loves  one's 
neighbor  as  one's  self;  it  loves  its  enemies  —  and  this 
love  benefits  its  enemies  (though  they  believe  it  not),  and 
rewards  its  possessor ;  for,  "  If  ye  love  them  which  love  you, 
what  reward  have  ye?" 

Man  the  True  Image  of  God 

From  a  material  standpoint,  the  best  of  people  some- 
times object  to  the  philosophy  of  Christian  Science,  on  the 


10     IVIESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

ground  that  it  takes  away  man's  personality  and  makes 
man  less  than  man.  But  what  saith  the  apostle  ?  —  even 
this :  "  If  a  man  think  himself  to  be  something,  when  he  is 
nothing,  he  deceiveth  himself."  The  great  Nazarene 
Prophet  said,  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them :"  then, 
if  the  effects  of  Christian  Science  on  the  Hves  of  men 
be  thus  judged,  we  are  sure  the  honest  verdict  of  hu- 
manity will  attest  its  uplifting  power,  and  prevail  over  the 
opposite  notion  that  Christian  Science  lessens  man's  in- 
dividuality. 

The  students  at  the  Massachusetts  Metaphysical  Col- 
lege, generally,  were  the  average  man  and  woman.  But 
after  graduation,  the  best  students  in  the  class  averred 
that  they  were  stronger  and  better  than  before  it.  With 
twelve  lessons  or  less,  the  present  and  future  of  those  stu- 
dents had  wonderfully  broadened  and  brightened  before 
them,  thus  proving  the  utihty  of  what  they  had  been  taught. 
Christian  Scientists  heal  functional,  organic,  chronic,  and 
acute  diseases  that  M.D.'s  have  failed  to  heal;  and, 
better  still,  they  reform  desperate  cases  of  intemperance, 
tobacco  using,  and  immorality,  which,  we  regret  to  say, 
other  religious  teachers  are  unable  to  effect.  All  this  is 
accomplished  by  the  grace  of  God,  —  the  effect  of  God 
understood.  A  higher  manhood  is  manifest,  and  never 
lost,  in  that  individual  who  finds  the  highest  joy,  —  there- 
fore no  pleasure  in  loathsome  habits  or  in  sin,  and  no 
necessity  for  disease  and  death.  Whatever  promotes 
statuesque  being,  health,  and  holiness  does  not  degrade 
man's  personality.  Sin,  sickness,  appetites,  and  passions, 
constitute  no  part  of  man,  but  obscure  man.    Therefore  it 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM  11 

required  the  divinity  of  our  Master  to  perceive  the  real 
man,  and  to  cast  out  the  unreal  or  counterfeit.  It  caused 
St.  Paul  to  write,  —  "  Lie  not  one  to  another,  seeing  that 
ye  have  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds ;  and  have  put 
on  the  new  man,  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after 
the  image  of  Him  that  created  him." 

Was  our  Master  mistaken  in  judging  a  cause  by  its 
effects?  Shall  the  opinions,  systems,  doctrines,  and  dog- 
mas of  men  gauge  the  animus  of  man  ?  or  shall  his  stature 
in  Christ,  Truth,  declare  him?  Governed  by  the  divine 
Principle  of  his  being,  man  is  perfect.  When  will  the 
schools  allow  mortals  to  turn  from  clay  to  Soul  for  the 
model?  The  Science  of  being,  understood  and  obeyed, 
will  demonstrate  man  to  be  superior  to  the  best  church- 
member  or  moralist  on  earth,  who  understands  not  this 
Science.  If  man  is  spiritually  fallen,  it  matters  not  what 
he  believes ;  he  is  not  upright,  and  must  regain  his  native 
spiritual  stature  in  order  to  be  in  proper  shape,  as  certainly 
as  the  man  who  falls  physically  needs  to  rise  again. 

Mortals,  content  with  something  less  than  perfection  — 
the  original  standard  of  man  —  may  believe  that  evil  de- 
velops good,  and  that  whatever  strips  off  evil's  disguise  be- 
littles man's  personaHty.  But  God  enables  us  to  know  that 
evil  is  not  the  medium  of  good,  and  that  good  supreme  de- 
stroys all  sense  of  evil,  obHterates  the  lost  image  that 
mortals  are  content  to  call  man,  and  demands  man's  un- 
fallen  spiritual  perfectibility. 

The  grand  realism  that  man  is  the  true  image  of  God, 
not  fallen  or  inverted,  is  demonstrated  by  Christian  Science. 
And  because  Christ's  dear  demand,  "Be  ye  therefore 


12     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

perfect,"  is  valid,  it  will  be  found  possible  to  fulfil  it.  Then 
also  will  it  be  learned  that  good  is  not  educed  from  evil, 
but  comes  from  the  rejection  of  evil  and  its  modus  operandi. 
Our  scholarly  expositor  of  the  Scriptures,  Lyman  Abbott, 
D.D.,  writes,  "God,  Spirit,  is  ever  in  universal  nature." 
Then,  we  naturally  ask,  how  can  Spirit  be  constantly  pass- 
ing out  of  mankind  by  death  —  for  the  universe  includes 
man? 


The  Grandeur  of  Christianity 

This  closing  century,  and  its  successors,  will  make  strong 
claims  on  religion,  and  demand  that  the  inspired  Scriptural 
commands  be  fulfilled.  The  altitude  of  Christianity  open- 
eth,  high  above  the  so-called  laws  of  matter,  a  door  that  no 
man  can  shut ;  it  showeth  to  all  peoples  the  way  of  escape 
from  sin,  disease,  and  death ;  it  lifteth  the  burden  of  sharp 
experience  from  off  the  heart  of  humanity,  and  so  lighteth 
the  path  that  he  who  entereth  it  may  run  and  not  weary, 
and  walk,  not  wait  by  the  roadside,  —  yea,  pass  gently  on 
without  the  alterative  agonies  whereby  the  way-seeker 
gains  and  points  the  path. 

The  Science  of  Christianity  is  strictly  monotheism, — 
it  has  ONE  GOD.  And  this  divine  infinite  Principle, 
noumenon  and  phenomena,  is  demonstrably  the  self- 
existent  Life,  Truth,  Love,  substance.  Spirit,  Mind,  which 
includes  all  that  the  term  implies,  and  is  all  that  is  real  and 
eternal.  Christian  Science  is  irrevocable  —  unpierced 
by  bold  conjecture's  sharp  point,  by  bald  philosophy,  or 
by  man's  inventions.    It  is  divinely  true,  and  every  hour 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM  13 

in  time  and  in  eternity  will  witness  more  steadfastly  to  its 
practical  truth.  And  Science  is  not  pantheism,  but  Chris- 
tian Science. 

Chief  among  the  questions  herein,  and  nearest  my 
heart,  is  this:  When  shall  Christianity  be  demonstrated 
according  to  Christ,  in  these  words:  "Neither  shall  they 
say,  Lo,  here !  or,  lo  there  I  for,  behold,  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  within  you  **  ? 


Exhortation 

Beloved  brethren,  the  love  of  our  loving  Lord  was  never 
more  manifest  than  in  its  stern  condemnation  of  all  error, 
wherever  found.  I  counsel  thee,  rebuke  and  exhort  one 
another.  Love  all  Christian  churches  for  the  gospel's 
sake ;  and  be  exceedingly  glad  that  the  churches  are  united 
in  purpose,  if  not  in  method,  to  close  the  war  between 
flesh  and  Spirit,  and  to  fight  the  good  fight  till  God's  will 
be  witnessed  and  done  on  earth  as  in  heaven. 

Sooner  or  later  all  shall  know  Him,  recognize  the  great 
truth  that  Spirit  is  infinite,  and  find  life  in  Him  in  whom 
we  do  "live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being"  —  fife  in 
Life,  all  in  All.  Then  shall  all  nations,  peoples,  and 
tongues,  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  have  "one  God  and 
Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in 
you  all."      (Ephesians  iv.  6.) 

Have  I  wearied  you  with  the  mysticism  of  opposites? 
Truly  there  is  no  rest  in  them,  and  I  have  only  traversed 
my  subject  that  you  may  prove  for  yourselves  the  unsub- 


14     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

stantial  nature  of  whatever  is  unlike  good,  weigh  a  sigh, 
and  rise  into  the  rest  of  righteousness  with  its  triumphant 
train. 

Once  more  I  write.  Set  your  affections  on  things  above ; 
love  one  another ;  commune  at  the  table  of  our  Lord  in  one 
spirit ;  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth ;  and  if  daily  adoring, 
imploring,  and  living  the  divine  Life,  Truth,  Love,  thou 
shalt  partake  of  the  bread  that  cometh  down  from  heaven, 
drink  of  the  cup  of  salvation,  and  be  baptized  in  Spirit 

Prayer  for  Country  and  Church 

Pray  for  the  prosperity  of  our  country,  and  for  her  vic- 
tory under  arms;  that  justice,  mercy,  and  peace  continue 
to  characterize  her  government,  and  that  they  shall  rule  all 
nations.  Pray  that  the  divine  presence  may  still  guide  and 
bless  our  chief  magistrate,  those  associated  with  his  execu- 
tive trust,  and  our  national  judiciary ;  give  to  our  congress 
wisdom,  and  uphold  our  nation  with  the  right  arm  of  His 
righteousness. 

In  your  peaceful  homes  remember  our  brave  soldiers, 
whether  in  camp  or  in  battle.  Oh,  may  their  love  of  coun- 
try, and  their  faithful  service  thereof,  be  unto  them  life- 
preservers!  May  the  divine  Love  succor  and  protect 
them,  as  at  Manila,  where  brave  men,  led  by  the  dauntless 
Dewey,  and  shielded  by  the  power  that  saved  them,  sailed 
victoriously  through  the  jaws  of  death  and  blotted  out  the 
Spanish  squadron. 

Great  occasion  have  we  to  rejoice  that  our  nation,  which 
fed  her  starving  foe,  —  already  murdering  her  peaceful 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM  15 

seamen  and  destroying  millions  of  her  money,  —  will  be 
as  formidable  in  war  as  she  has  been  compassionate  in 
peace. 

May  our  Father-Mother  God,  who  in  times  past  hath 
spread  for  us  a  table  in  the  wilderness  and  "in  the  midst 
of  our  enemies,"  establish  us  in  the  most  holy  faith,  plant 
our  feet  firmly  on  Truth,  the  rock  of  Christ,  the  "substance 
of  things  hoped  for"  —  and  fill  us  with  the  life  and  under- 
standing of  God,  and  good  will  towards  men. 

Maey  Baker  G.  Eddy 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  MOTHER   CHURCH 

boston,  mass. 
June,  1900 

BY 

MARY  BAKER  G.  EDDY 

PASTOR    EMERITUS    AND    AUTHOR    OF    SCIENCE    AND    HEALTH 
WITH    KEY    TO    THE   SCRIPTURES 

Twenty-fifth  Thousand 


BOSTON,  U.S.A. 

Published  by  Allison  V.  Stewart 

Falmouth  and  St.  Paul  Streets 

1909 


Copyright,  igoo 
By  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 


All  rights  reserved 


THE  UNIVBRSITY  PRESS,   CAMBKXDGS,   U.S.A. 


MESSAGE  FOR  1900 

MY  beloved  brethren,  methinks  even  I  am  touched 
with  the  tone  of  your  happy  hearts,  and  can  see  your 
glad  faces,  aglow  with  gratitude,  chinked  within  the 
storied  walls  of  The  Mother  Church.  If,  indeed,  we  may  be 
absent  from  the  body  and  present  with  the  ever-present 
Love  filling  all  space,  time,  and  immortality  —  then  I  am 
with  thee,  heart  answering  to  heart,  and  mine  to  thine  in 
the  glow  of  divine  reflection. 

I  am  grateful  to  say  that  in  the  first  year  of  the  twentieth 
century  this  first  church  of  our  denomination,  chartered 
in  1879,  is  found  crowned  with  unprecedented  prosperity; 
a  membership  of  over  sixteen  thousand  communicants  in 
unity,  with  rapidly  increasing  numbers,  rich  spiritual  at- 
tainments, and  right  convictions  fast  forming  themselves 
into  conduct. 

Christian  Science  already  has  a  hearing  and  following 
in  the  five  grand  divisions  of  the  globe ;  in  AustraUa,  the 
Philippine  Islands,  Hawaiian  Islands ;  and  in  most  of  the 
principal  cities,  such  as  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Washington,  Baltimore,  Charleston,  S.  C,  Atlanta,  New 
Orleans,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Denver,  Salt  Lake  City,  San 
Francisco,  Montreal,  London,  Edinburgh,  Dublin,  Paris, 
Berlin,  Rome,  Pekin.  Judging  from  the  number  of  the 
readers  of  my  books  and  those  interested  in  them,  over  a 


20     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

million  of  people  are  already  interested  in  Christian 
Science;  and  this  interest  increases.  Churches  of  this 
denomination  are  springing  up  in  the  above-named  cities, 
and,  thanks  to  God,  the  people  most  interested  in  this 
old-new  theme  of  redeeming  Love  are  among  the  best  people 
on  earth  and  in  heaven. 

The  song  of  Christian  Science  is,  "Work  —  work  — 
work  —  watch  and  pray."  The  close  observer  reports 
three  types  of  human  nature  —  the  right  thinker  and 
worker,  the  idler,  and  the  intermediate. 

The  right  thinker  works;  he  gives  little  time  to  society 
manners  or  matters,  and  benefits  society  by  his  example 
and  usefulness.  He  takes  no  time  for  amusement,  ease, 
frivolity;  he  earns  his  money  and  gives  it  wisely  to  the 
world. 

The  wicked  idler  earns  Httle  and  is  stingy;  he  has 
plenty  of  means,  but  he  uses  them  evilly.  Ask  how  he 
gets  his  money,  and  his  satanic  majesty  is  supposed  to 
answer  smilingly:  "By  cheating,  lying,  and  crime;  his 
dupes  are  his  capital ;  his  stock  in  trade,  the  wages  of  sin ; 
your  idlers  are  my  busiest  workers;  they  will  leave  a 
lucrative  business  to  work  for  me."  Here  we  add :  The 
doom  of  such  workers  will  come,  and  it  will  be  more  sudden, 
severe,  and  lasting  than  the  adversary  can  hope. 

The  intermediate  worker  works  at  times.  He  says: 
"  It  is  my  duty  to  take  some  time  for  myself ;  however,  I 
believe  in  working  when  it  is  convenient."  Well,  all  that 
is  good.  But  what  of  the  fruits  of  your  labors  ?  And  he 
answers:  "I  am  not  so  successful  as  I  could  wish,  but  I 
work  hard  enough  to  be  so." 


MESSAGE  FOR  1900  21 

Now,  what  saith  Christian  Science?  "When  a  man  is 
right,  his  thoughts  are  right,  active,  and  they  are  fruitful ; 
he  loses  self  in  love,  and  cannot  hear  himself,  unless  he 
loses  the  chord.  The  right  thinker  and  worker  does  his 
best,  and  does  the  thinking  for  the  ages.  No  hand  that 
feels  not  his  help,  no  heart  his  comfort.  He  improves 
moments ;  to  him  time  is  money,  and  he  hoards  this  capital 
to  distribute  gain." 

If  the  right  thinker  and  worker's  servitude  is  duly  valued, 
he  is  not  thereby  worshipped.  One's  idol  is  by  no  means 
his  servant,  but  his  master.  And  they  who  love  a  good 
work  or  good  workers  are  themselves  workers  who  appre- 
ciate a  life,  and  labor  to  awake  the  slumbering  capability 
of  man.  And  what  the  best  thinker  and  worker  has  said 
and  done,  they  are  not  far  from  saying  and  doing.  As  a 
rule  the  Adam-race  are  not  apt  to  worship  the  pioneer 
of  spiritual  ideas,  —  but  ofttimes  to  shun  him  as  their 
tormentor.  Only  the  good  man  loves  the  right  thinker 
and  worker,  and  cannot  worship  him,  for  that  would  de- 
stroy this  man's  goodness. 

To-day  it  surprises  us  that  during  the  period  of  captivity 
the  Israelites  in  Babylon  hesitated  not  to  call  the  divine 
name  Yahwah,  afterwards  transcribed  Jehovah;  also 
that  women's  names  contained  this  divine  appellative  and 
so  sanctioned  idolatry,  —  other  gods.  In  the  heathen 
conception  Yahwah,  misnamed  Jehovah,  was  a  god  of 
hate  and  of  love,  who  repented  himself,  improved  on  his 
work  of  creation,  and  revenged  himself  upon  his  enemies. 
However,  the  animus  of  heathen  religion  was  not  the  in- 
centive of  the  devout  Jew  —  but  has  it  not  tainted  the  reli- 


22     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

gious  sects?  This  seedling  misnomer  couples  love  and 
hate,  good  and  evil,  health  and  sickness,  life  and  death, 
with  man  —  makes  His  opposites  as  real  and  normal  as 
the  one  God,  and  so  unwittingly  consents  to  many  minds 
and  many  gods.  This  precedent  that  would  commingle 
Christianity,  the  gospel  of  the  New  Testament  and  the 
teaching  of  the  righteous  Galilean,  Christ  Jesus,  with  the 
Babylonian  and  Neoplatonic  religion,  is  being  purged  by 
a  purer  Judaism  and  nearer  approach  to  monotheism  and 
the  perfect  worship  of  one  God. 

To-day  people  are  surprised  at  the  new  and  forward 
steps  in  religion,  which  indicate  a  renaissance  greater  than 
in  the  mediseval  period ;  but  ought  not  this  to  be  an  agree- 
able surprise,  inasmuch  as  these  are  progressive  signs  of 
the  times  ? 

It  should  seem  rational  that  the  only  perfect  religion  is 
divine  Science,  Christianity  as  taught  by  our  great  Master ; 
that  which  leaves  the  beaten  path  of  human  doctrines  and 
is  the  truth  of  God,  and  of  man  and  the  universe.  The 
divine  Principle  and  rules  of  this  Christianity  being  de- 
monstrable, they  are  undeniable ;  and  they  must  be  found 
final,  absolute,  and  eternal.  The  question  as  to  religion 
is:  Does  it  demonstrate  its  doctrines?  Do  religionists 
believe  that  God  is  One  and  Allf  Then  whatever  is  real 
must  proceed  from  God,  from  Mind,  and  is  His  reflection 
and  Science.  Man  and  the  universe  coexist  with  God  in 
Science,  and  they  reflect  God  and  nothing  else.  In  divine 
Science,  divine  Love  includes  and  reflects  all  that  really 
is,  all  personality  and  individuality.  St.  Paul  beautifully 
enunciates  this  fundamental  fact  of  Deity  as  the  "Father 


MESSAGE  FOR  1900  23 

of  all,  who  IS  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all." 
This  scientific  statement  of  the  origin,  nature,  and  govern- 
ment of  all  things  coincides  with  the  First  Commandment 
of  the  Decalogue,  and  leaves  no  opportunity  for  idolatry 
or  aught  besides  God,  good.  It  gives  evil  no  origin,  no 
reaUty.  Here  note  the  words  of  our  Master  corroborating 
this  as  self-evident.  Jesus  said  the  opposite  of  God  — 
good  —  named  devil  —  evil  —  "is  a  liar,  and  the  father 
of  it"  —  that  is,  its  origin  is  a  myth,  a  lie. 

Applied  to  Deity,  Father  and  Mother  are  synon3maous 
terms;  they  signify  one  God.  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost  mean  God,  man,  and  divine  Science.  God  is  self- 
existent,  the  essence  and  source  of  the  two  latter,  and  their 
office  is  that  of  eternal,  infinite  individuality.  I  see  no 
other  way  under  heaven  and  among  men  whereby  to  have 
one  God,  and  man  in  His  image  and  Hkeness,  loving  an- 
other as  himself.  This  being  the  divine  Science  of  divine 
Love,  it  would  enable  man  to  escape  from  idolatry  of 
every  kind,  to  obey  the  First  Commandment  of  the  Deca- 
logue: "Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me;" 
and  the  command  of  Christ :  "  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self." On  this  rock  Christian  Science  is  built.  It  may 
be  the  rock  which  the  builders  reject  for  a  season;  but 
it  is  the  Science  of  God  and  His  universe,  and  it  will  be- 
come the  head  of  the  corner,  the  foundation  of  all  systems 
of  religion. 

The  spiritual  sense  of  the  Scriptures  understood  enables 
one  to  utilize  the  power  of  divine  Love  in  casting  out  God's 
opposites,  called  evils,  and  in  healing  the  sick.  Not  mad- 
ness, but  might  and  majesty  attend  every  footstep  of 


24     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

Christian  Science.  There  is  no  imperfection,  no  lack  in 
the  Principle  and  rules  which  demonstrate  it.  Only  the 
demonstrator  can  mistake  or  fail  in  proving  its  power  and 
divinity.  In  the  words  of  St.  Paul:  "I  count  not  myself 
to  have  apprehended :  but  this  one  thing  I  do,  forgetting 
those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  to  those 
things  which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the  mark  for  the 
prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus "  —  in  the 
true  idea  of  God.  Any  mystery  in  Christian  Science  de- 
parts when  dawns  the  spiritual  meaning  thereof;  and  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  Scriptures  is  the  scientific  sense  which 
interprets  the  healing  Christ.  A  child  can  measurably 
understand  Christian  Science,  for,  through  his  simple  faith 
and  purity,  he  takes  in  its  spiritual  sense  that  puzzles  the 
man.  The  child  not  only  accepts  Christian  Science  more 
readily  than  the  adult,  but  he  practises  it.  This  notable 
fact  proves  that  the  so-called  fog  of  this  Science  obtains 
not  in  the  Science,  but  in  the  material  sense  which  the 
adult  entertains  of  it.  However,  to  a  man  who  uses  to- 
bacco, is  profane,  licentious,  and  breaks  God's  com- 
mandments, that  which  destroys  his  false  appetites  and 
lifts  him  from  the  stubborn  thrall  of  sin  to  a  meek  and 
loving  disciple  of  Christ,  clothed  and  in  his  right  mind,  is 
not  darkness  but  light. 

Again,  that  Christian  Science  is  the  Science  of  God  is 
proven  when,  in  the  degree  that  you  accept  it,  understand 
and  practise  it,  you  are  made  better  physically,  morally, 
and  spiritually.  Some  modern  exegesis  on  the  prophetic 
Scriptures  cites  1875  as  the  year  of  the  second  coming  of 
Christ.     In   that  year  the  Christian  Science  textbook, 


MESSAGE  FOR  1900  25 

"Science  and  Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures,"  was 
first  published.  From  that  year  the  United  States  official 
statistics  show  the  annual  death-rate  to  have  gradually 
diminished.  Likewise  the  rehgious  sentiment  has  in- 
creased; creeds  and  dogmas  have  been  sifted,  and  a 
greater  love  of  the  Scriptures  manifested.  In  1895  it  was 
estimated  that  during  the  past  three  years  there  had  been 
more  Bibles  sold  than  in  all  the  other  1893  years.  Many 
of  our  best  and  most  scholarly  men  and  women,  distin- 
guished members  of  the  bar  and  bench,  press  and  pulpit, 
and  those  in  all  the  walks  of  life,  will  tell  you  they  never 
loved  the  Bible  and  appreciated  its  worth  as  they  did  after 
reading  "Science  and  Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures." 
This  is  my  great  reward  for  having  suffered,  lived,  and 
learned,  in  a  small  degree,  the  Science  of  perfectibility 
through  Christ,  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life. 

Is  there  more  than  one  Christ,  and  hath  Christ  a  second 
appearing?  There  is  but  one  Christ.  And  from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting  this  Christ  is  never  absent.  In  doubt 
and  darkness  we  say  as  did  Mary  of  old:  "I  know  not 
where  they  have  laid  him."  But  when  we  behold  the 
Christ  walking  the  wave  of  earth's  troubled  sea,  like  Peter 
we  believe  in  the  second  coming,  and  would  walk  more 
closely  with  Christ ;  but  find  ourselves  so  far  from  the  em- 
bodiment of  Truth  that  ofttimes  this  attempt  measurably 
fails,  and  we  cry,  "Save,  or  I  perish !"  Then  the  tender, 
loving  Christ  is  found  near,  affords  help,  and  we  are  saved 
from  our  fears.  Thus  it  is  we  walk  here  below,  and  wait 
for  the  full  appearing  of  Christ  till  the  long  night  is  past 
and  the  morning  dawns  on  eternal  day.    Then,  if  sin  and 


26     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

flesh  are  put  off,  we  shall  know  and  behold  more  nearly 
the  embodied  Christ,  and  with  saints  and  angels  shall  be 
satisfied  to  go  on  till  we  awake  in  his  likeness. 

The  good  man  imparts  knowingly  and  unknowingly 
goodness;  but  the  evil  man  also  exhales  consciously  and 
unconsciously  his  evil  nature  —  hence,  be  careful  of  your 
company.  As  in  the  floral  kingdom  odors  emit  character- 
istics of  tree  and  flower,  a  perfume  or  a  poison,  so  the  hu- 
man character  comes  forth  a  blessing  or  a  bane  upon 
individuals  and  society.  A  wicked  man  has  Httle  real 
intelHgence;  he  may  steal  other  people's  good  thoughts, 
and  wear  the  purloined  garment  as  his  own,  till  God's 
discipline  takes  it  off  for  his  poverty  to  appear. 

Our  Master  saith  to  his  followers:  "Bring  forth  things 
new  and  old."  In  this  struggle  remember  that  sensitive- 
ness is  sometimes  selfishness,  and  that  mental  idleness  or 
apathy  is  always  egotism  and  animality.  Usefulness  is 
doing  rightly  by  yourself  and  others.  We  lose  a  percentage 
due  to  our  activity  when  doing  the  work  that  belongs  to 
another.  When  a  man  begins  to  quarrel  with  himself  he 
stops  quarrelling  with  others.  We  must  exterminate  self 
before  we  can  successfully  war  with  mankind.  Then,  at 
last,  the  right  will  boil  over  the  brim  of  Hfe  and  the  fire 
that  purifies  sense  with  Soul  will  be  extinguished.  It  is  not 
Science  for  the  wicked  to  wallow  or  the  good  to  weep. 

Learn  to  obey;  but  learn  first  what  obedience  is. 
When  God  speaks  to  you  through  one  of  His  little  ones, 
and  you  obey  the  mandate  but  retain  a  desire  to  follow 
your  own  inclinations,  that  is  not  obedience.  I  some- 
times advise  students  not  to  do  certain  things  which  I 


MESSAGE  FOR  1900  27 

know  it  were  best  not  to  do,  and  they  comply  with  my 
counsel;  but,  watching  them,  I  discern  that  this  obedience 
is  contrary  to  their  inclination.  Then  I  sometimes  with- 
draw that  advice  and  say :  "  You  may  do  it  if  you  de- 
sire." But  I  say  this  not  because  it  is  the  best  thing  to 
do,  but  because  the  student  is  not  willing  —  therefore, 
not  ready  —  to  obey. 

The  secret  of  Christian  Science  in  right  thinking  and 
acting  is  open  to  mankind,  but  few,  comparatively,  see  it; 
or,  seeing  it,  shut  their  eyes  and  wait  for  a  more  convenient 
season;  or  as  of  old  cry  out:  "Why  art  thou  come  hither 
to  torment  me  before  the  time  ?" 

Strong  desires  bias  human  judgment  and  misguide  ac- 
tion, else  they  uplift  them.  But  the  reformer  continues 
his  lightning,  thunder,  and  sunshine  till  the  mental  at- 
mosphere is  clear.  The  reformer  must  be  a  hero  at  all 
points,  and  he  must  have  conquered  himself  before  he  can 
conquer  others.  Sincerity  is  more  successful  than  genius 
or  talent. 

The  twentieth  century  in  the  ebb  and  flow  of  thought 
will  challenge  the  thinkers,  speakers,  and  workers  to  do 
their  best.  Whosoever  attempts  to  ostracize  Christian 
Science  will  signally  fail;  for  no  one  can  fight  against  God, 
and  win. 

My  loyal  students  will  tell  you  that  for  many  years  I 
have  desired  to  step  aside  and  to  have  some  one  take  my 
place  as  leader  of  this  mighty  movement.  Also  that  I 
strove  earnestly  to  fit  others  for  this  great  responsibility. 
But  no  one  else  has  seemed  equal  to  "bear  the  burden  and 
heat  of  the  day." 


28     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

Success  in  sin  is  downright  defeat.  Hatred  bites  the 
heel  of  love  that  is  treading  on  its  head.  All  that  worketh 
good  is  some  manifestation  of  God  asserting  and  develop- 
ing good.  Evil  is  illusion,  that  after  a  fight  vanisheth  with 
the  new  birth  of  the  greatest  and  best.  Conflict  and  perse- 
cution are  the  truest  signs  that  can  be  given  of  the  greatness 
of  a  cause  or  of  an  individual,  provided  this  warfare  is 
honest  and  a  world-imposed  struggle.  Such  conjflict  never 
ends  till  unconquerable  right  is  begun  anew,  and  hath 
gained  fresh  energy  and  final  victory. 

Certain  elements  in  human  nature  would  undermine 
the  civic,  social,  and  religious  rights  and  laws  of  nations 
and  peoples,  striking  at  liberty,  human  rights,  and  self- 
government  —  and  this,  too,  in  the  name  of  God,  justice, 
and  humanity!  These  elements  assail  even  the  new-old 
doctrines  of  the  prophets  and  of  Jesus  and  his  disciples. 
History  shows  that  error  repeats  itself  until  it  is  extermi- 
nated. Surely  the  wisdom  of  our  forefathers  is  not  added 
but  subtracted  from  whatever  sways  the  sceptre  of  self  and 
pelf  over  individuals,  weak  provinces,  or  peoples.  Here 
our  hope  anchors  in  God  who  reigns,  and  justice  and  judg- 
ment are  the  habitation  of  His  throne  forever. 

Only  last  week  I  received  a  touching  token  of  unselfed 
manhood  from  a  person  I  never  saw.  But  since  pubhshing 
this  page  I  have  learned  it  was  a  private  soldier  who  sent 
to  me,  in  the  name  of  a  first  lieutenant  of  the  United  States 
infantry  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  ten  five-dollar  gold 
pieces  snuggled  in  Pears*  soap.  Surely  it  is  enough  for  a 
soldier  serving  his  country  in  that  torrid  zone  to  part  with 
his  soap,  but  to  send  me  some  of  his  hard-earned  money 


MESSAGE  FOR  1900  29 

cost  me  a  tear  1    Yes,  and  it  gave  me  more  pleasure  than 
millions  of  money  could  have  given. 

Beloved  brethren,  have  no  discord  over  music.  Hold 
in  yourselves  the  true  sense  of  harmony,  and  this  sense 
vdW  harmonize,  unify,  and  unself  you.  Once  I  was  pas- 
sionately fond  of  material  music,  but  jarring  elements 
among  musicians  weaned  me  from  this  love  and  wedded 
me  to  spiritual  music,  the  music  of  Soul.  Thus  it  is  with 
whatever  turns  mortals  away  from  earth  to  heaven;  we 
have  the  promise  that  "all  things  work  together  for  good 
to  them  that  love  God,"  —  love  good.  The  human  sigh 
for  peace  and  love  is  answered  and  compensated  by  divine 
love.  Music  is  more  than  sound  in  unison.  The  deaf 
Beethoven  besieges  you  with  tones  intricate,  profound, 
commanding.  Mozart  rests  you.  To  me  his  composition 
is  the  triumph  of  art,  for  he  measures  himself  against 
deeper  grief.  I  want  not  only  quality,  quantity,  and  vari- 
ation in  tone,  but  the  unction  of  Love.  Music  is  divine. 
Mind,  not  matter,  makes  music ;  and  if  the  divine  tone  be 
lacking,  the  human  tone  has  no  melody  for  me.  Adelaide 
A.  Proctor  breathes  my  thought :  — 

It  flooded  the  crimson  twilight 
Like  the  close  of  an  angel's  psalm. 

And  it  lay  on  my  fevered  spirit 
With  a  touch  of  infinite  calm. 

In  Revelation  St.  John  refers  to  what  "the  Spirit  saith 
unto  the  churches."  His  allegories  are  the  highest  criticism 
on  all  human  action,  type,  and  system.  His  symbolic 
ethics  bravely  rebuke  lawlessness.     His  types  of  purity 


30     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

pierce  corruption  beyond  the  power  of  the  pen.  They  are 
bursting  paraphrases  projected  from  divinity  upon  human- 
ity, the  spiritual  import  whereof  "holdeth  the  seven  stars 
in  His  right  hand  and  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the  seven 
golden  candlesticks"  —  the  radiance  of  glorified  Being. 

In  Revelation,  second  chapter,  his  messages  to  the 
churches  commence  with  the  church  of  Ephesus.  History 
records  Ephesus  as  an  illustrious  city,  the  capital  of  Asia 
Minor.  It  especially  flourished  as  an  emporium  in  the 
time  of  the  Roman  Emperor  Augustus.  St.  Paul's  life 
furnished  items  concerning  this  city.  Corresponding  to 
its  roads,  its  gates,  whence  the  Ephesian  elders  travelled  to 
meet  St.  Paul,  led  northward  and  southward.  At  the  head 
of  the  harbor  was  the  temple  of  Diana,  the  tutelary  divinity 
of  Ephesus.  The  earlier  temple  was  burned  on  the  night 
that  Alexander  the  Great  was  born.  Magical  arts  pre- 
vailed at  Ephesus;  hence  the  Revelator's  saying:  "I 
have  somewhat  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  left  thy 
first  love  .  .  .  and  will  remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  his 
place,  except  thou  repent."  This  prophecy  has  been  ful- 
filled. Under  the  influence  of  St.  Paul's  preaching  the 
magical  books  in  that  city  were  publicly  burned.  It  were 
well  if  we  had  a  St.  Paul  to  purge  our  cities  of  charlatanism. 
During  St.  Paul's  stay  in  that  city  —  over  two  years  —  he 
labored  in  the  synagogue,  in  the  school  of  Tyrannus,  and 
also  in  private  houses.    The  entire  city  is  now  in  ruins. 

The  Revelation  of  St.  John  in  the  apostolic  age  is  sym- 
bolic, rather  than  personal  or  historical.  It  refers  to  the 
Hebrew  Balaam  as  the  devourer  of  the  people.  Nicolaitan 
church  presents  the  phase  of  a  great  controversy,  ready  to 


MESSAGE  FOR  1900  31 

destroy  the  unity  and  the  purity  of  the  church.  It  is  said 
"a  controversy  was  inevitable  when  the  Gentiles  entered 
the  church  of  Christ"  in  that  city.  The  Revelator  com- 
mends the  church  at  Ephesus  by  saying:  "Thou  hatest 
the  deeds  of  the  Nicolaitanes,  which  I  also  hate."  It  is 
written  of  this  church  that  their  words  were  brave  and  their 
deeds  evil.  The  orgies  of  their  idolatrous  feasts  and  their 
impurities  were  part  of  a  system  supported  by  their  doc- 
trine and  their  so-called  prophetic  illumination.  Their 
distinctive  feature  the  apostle  justly  regards  as  heathen, 
and  so  he  denounces  the  Nicolaitan  church. 

Alexander  the  Great  founded  the  city  of  Smyrna,  and 
after  a  series  of  wars  it  was  taken  and  sacked.  The  Reve- 
lator writes  of  this  church  of  Smyrna:  "Be  thou  faithful 
unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life."  A  glad 
promise  to  such  as  wait  and  weep. 

The  city  of  Pergamos  was  devoted  to  a  sensual  worship. 
There  iEsculapius,  the  god  of  medicine,  acquired  fame; 
and  a  serpent  was  the  emblem  of  iEsculapius.  Its  medical 
practice  included  charms  and  incantations.  The  Reve- 
lator refers  to  the  church  in  this  city  as  dwelling  "where 
Satan's  seat  is."  The  Pergamene  church  consisted  of  the 
school  of  Balaam  and  iEsculapius,  idolatry  and  medicine. 

The  principal  deity  in  the  city  of  Thyatira  was  Apollo. 
Smith  writes :  "  In  this  city  the  amalgamation  of  different 
pagan  religions  seems  not  to  have  been  wholly  discoun- 
tenanced by  the  authorities  of  the  Judseo-Christian 
church." 

The  Revelator  speaks  of  the  angel  of  the  church  in 
Philadelphia  as  being  bidden  to  write  the  approval  of  this 


32     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

church  by  our  Master  —  he  saith:  "Thou  hast  a  little 
strength,  and  hast  kept  my  word,  and  hast  not  denied  my 
name.  Behold,  I  will  make  them  of  the  synagogue  of 
Satan  ...  to  know  that  I  have  loved  thee.  .  .  .  Hold 
that  fast  which  thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown." 

He  goes  on  to  portray  seven  churches,  the  full  number 
of  days  named  in  the  creation,  which  signifies  a  complete 
time  or  number  of  whatever  is  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures. 

Beloved,  let  him  that  hath  an  ear  (that  discerneth  spirit- 
ually) hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches;  and 
seek  thou  the  divine  import  of  the  Revelator's  vision  — 
and  no  other.  Note  his  inspired  rebuke  to  all  the  churches 
except  the  church  in  Philadelphia  —  the  name  whereof 
signifies  "brotherly  love."  I  call  your  attention  to  this 
to  remind  you  of  the  joy  you  have  had  in  following  the 
more  perfect  way,  or  Golden  Rule:  "As  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye."  Let  no  root  of  bitterness 
spring  up  among  you,  but  hold  in  your  full  hearts  fervently 
the  charity  that  seeketh  not  only  her  own,  but  another's 
good.  The  angel  that  spake  unto  the  churches  cites  Jesus 
as  "he  that  hath  the  key  of  David;  that  openeth  and  no 
man  shutteth,  and  shutteth  and  no  man  openeth;"  in 
other  words,  he  that  toiled  for  the  spiritually  indispensable. 

At  all  times  respect  the  character  and  philanthropy  of 
the  better  class  of  M.D.'s  —  and  if  you  are  stoned  from 
the  pulpit,  say  in  your  heart  as  the  devout  St.  Stephen  said : 
"Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge." 

When  invited  to  a  feast  you  naturally  ask  who  are  to  be 
the  guests.  And  being  told  they  are  distinguished  indi- 
viduals, you  prepare  accordingly  for  the  festivity.    Putting 


MESSAGE  FOR  1900  33 

aside  the  old  garment,  you  purchase,  at  whatever  price,  a 
new  one  that  is  up  to  date.  To-day  you  have  come  to  a 
sumptuous  feast,  to  one  that  for  many  years  has  been  await- 
ing you.  The  guests  are  distinguished  above  human  title 
and  this  feast  is  a  Passover.  To  sit  at  this  table  of  their 
Lord  and  partake  of  what  divine  Love  hath  prepared  for 
them.  Christian  Scientists  start  forward  with  true  ambi- 
tion. The  Passover,  spiritually  discerned,  is  a  wonderful 
passage  over  a  tear-filled  sea  of  repentance  —  which  of 
all  human  experience  is  the  most  divine;  and  after  this 
Passover  cometh  victory,  faith,  and  good  works. 

When  a  supercilious  consciousness  that  saith  "there  is 
no  sin,"  has  awakened  to  see  through  sin's  disguise  the 
claim  of  sin,  and  thence  to  see  that  sin  has  no  claim,  it 
yields  to  sharp  conviction  —  it  sits  in  sackcloth  —  it  waits 
in  the  desert  —  and  fasts  in  the  wilderness.  But  all  this 
time  divine  Love  has  been  preparing  a  feast  for  this 
awakened  consciousness.  To-day  you  have  come  to  Love's 
feast,  and  you  kneel  at  its  altar.  May  you  have  on  a  wed- 
ding garment  new  and  old,  and  the  touch  of  the  hem  of 
this  garment  heal  the  sick  and  the  sinner ! 

In  the  words  of  St.  John,  may  the  angel  of  The  Mother 
Church  write  of  this  church :  "Thou  hast  not  left  thy  first 
love,  I  know  thy  works,  and  charity,  and  service,  and  faith, 
and  thy  patience,  and  thy  works ;  and  the  last  to  be  more 
than  the  first." 

Watch  1  till  the  storms  are  o'er  — 

The  cold  blasts  done, 
The  reign  of  heaven  begun, 

And  love,  the  evermore. 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  MOTHER   CHURCH 

boston,  mass. 
June,  1901 

BY 

MARY  BAKER  G.  EDDY 

PASTOR    EMERITUS   AND    AUTHOR   OF   SCIENCE   AND    HEALTH 
WITH    KEY   TO   THE   SCRIPTURES 

Twenty-seventh    Thousand 


BOSTON,  U.S.A. 

Published  by  Allison  V.  Stewart 

Falmouth  and  St.  Paul  Streets 

1909 


Copyright,  igoi 
By  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 

All  rights  reser'ved 


THE  UNIVERSITY   PRESS,   CAMBRIDGE,   U.S.A. 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901 


BELOVED  brethren,  to-day  I  extend  my  heart-and- 
hand-fellowship  to  the  faithful,  to  those  whose  hearts 
have  been  beating  through  the  mental  avenues  of  man- 
kind for  God  and  humanity;  and  rest  assured  you  can 
never  lack  God's  outstretched  arm  so  long  as  you  are  in 
His  service.  Our  first  communion  in  the  new  century 
finds  Christian  Science  more  extended,  more  rapidly  ad- 
vancing, better  appreciated,  than  ever  before,  and  nearer 
the  whole  world's  acceptance. 

To-day  you  meet  to  commemorate  in  unity  the  life  of 
our  Lord,  and  to  rise  higher  and  still  higher  in  the  indi- 
vidual consciousness  most  essential  to  your  growth  and 
usefulness ;  to  add  to  your  treasures  of  thought  the  great 
realities  of  being,  which  constitute  mental  and  physical 
perfection.  The  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  refresh- 
ment and  invigoration  of  the  human  in  communion  with 
the  Divine,  have  brought  you  hither. 

All  that  is  true  is  a  sort  of  necessity,  a  portion  of  the 
primal  reality  of  things.  Truth  comes  from  a  deep  sin- 
cerity that  must  always  characterize  heroic  hearts;  it  is 
the  better  side  of  man's  nature  developing  itself. 

As  Christian  Scientists  you  seek  to  define  God  to  your 
own  consciousness  by  feeling  and  applying  the  nature  and 
practical  possibilities  of  divine  Love :  to  gain  the  absolute 


38    MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

and  supreme  certainty  that  Christianity  is  now  what  Christ 
Jesus  taught  and  demonstrated  —  health,  holiness,  im- 
mortality. The  highest  spiritual  Christianity  in  individual 
lives  is  indispensable  to  the  acquiring  of  greater  power  in 
the  perfected  Science  of  healing  all  manner  of  diseases. 

We  know  the  healing  standard  of  Christian  Science  was 
and  is  traduced  by  trying  to  put  into  the  old  garment  the 
new-old  cloth  of  Christian  heahng.  To  attempt  to  twist 
the  fatal  magnetic  element  of  human  will  into  harmony 
with  divine  power,  or  to  substitute  good  words  for  good 
deeds,  a  fair  seeming  for  right  being,  may  suit  the  weak  or 
the  woridly  who  find  the  standard  of  Christ's  healing  too 
high  for  them.  Absolute  certainty  in  the  practice  of  divine 
metaphysics  constitutes  its  utility,  since  it  has  a  divine  and 
demonstrable  Principle  and  rule  —  if  some  fall  short  of 
Truth,  others  will  attain  it,  and  these  are  they  who  will 
adhere  to  it.  The  feverish  pride  of  sects  and  systems  is 
the  death's-head  at  the  feast  of  Love,  but  Christianity  is 
ever  storming  sin  in  its  citadels,  blessing  the  poor  in  spirit 
and  keeping  peace  with  God. 

What  Jesus'  disciples  of  old  experienced,  his  followers 
of  to-day  will  prove,  namely,  that  a  departure  from  the 
direct  line  in  Christ  costs  a  return  under  diflSculties ;  dark- 
ness, doubt,  and  unrequited  toil  will  beset  all  their  return- 
ing footsteps.  Only  a  firm  foundation  in  Truth  can  give 
a  fearless  wing  and  a  sure  reward. 

The  history  of  Christian  Science  explains  its  rapid 
growth.  In  my  church  of  over  twenty-one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  thirty-one  communicants  (two  thousand  four 
hundred  and  ninety-six  of  whom  have  been  added  since 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  39 

last  November)  there  spring  spontaneously  the  higher  hope, 
and  increasing  virtue,  fervor,  and  fidelity.  The  special 
benediction  of  our  Father-Mother  God  rests  upon  this 
hour :  "  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  per- 
secute you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you 
falsely,  for  my  sake." 

God  is  the  Infinite  Person 

We  hear  it  said  the  Christian  Scientists  have  no  God 
because  their  God  is  not  a  person.  Let  us  examine  this. 
The  loyal  Christian  Scientists  absolutely  adopt  Webster's 
definition  of  God,  "A  Supreme  Being,"  and  the  Standard 
dictionary's  definition  of  God,  "The  one  Supreme  Being, 
self-existent  and  eternal."  Also,  we  accept  God,  emphati- 
cally, in  the  higher  definition  derived  from  the  Bible,  and 
this  accords  with  the  literal  sense  of  the  lexicons :  "  God  is 
Spirit,"  "God  is  Love."  Then,  to  define  Love  in  divine 
Science  we  use  this  phrase  for  God  —  divine  Principle. 
By  this  we  mean  Mind,  a  permanent,  fundamental,  intel- 
Hgent,  divine  Being,  called  in  Scripture,  Spirit,  Love. 

It  is  sometimes  said :  "  God  is  Love,  but  this  is  no  argu- 
ment that  Love  is  God;  for  God  is  light,  but  light  is  not 
God."  The  first  proposition  is  correct,  and  is  not  lost 
by  the  conclusion,  for  Love  expresses  the  nature  of  God; 
but  the  last  proposition  does  not  illustrate  the  first,  as 
light,  being  matter,  loses  the  nature  of  God,  Spirit,  deserts 
its  premise,  and  expresses  God  only  in  metaphor,  there- 
fore it  is  illogical  and  the  conclusion  is  not  properly  drawn. 
It  is  logical  that  because  God  is  Love,  Love  is  divine  Prin- 


40     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

ciple;  then  Love  as  either  divine  Principle  or  Person 
stands  for  God  —  for  both  have  the  nature  of  God. 
In  logic  the  major  premise  must  be  convertible  to  the 
minor. 

In  mathematics  four  times  three  is  twelve,  and  three 
times  four  is  twelve.  To  depart  from  the  rule  of  mathe- 
matics destroys  the  proof  of  mathematics;  just  as  a  de- 
parture from  the  Principle  and  rule  of  divine  Science 
destroys  the  ability  to  demonstrate  Love  according  to 
Christ,  healing  the  sick;  and  you  lose  its  susceptibility  of 
scientific  proof. 

God  is  the  author  of  Science  —  neither  man  nor  matter 
can  be.  The  Science  of  God  must  be,  is,  dwine,  predi- 
cated of  Principle  and  demonstrated  as  divine  Love;  and 
Christianity  is  divine  Science,  else  there  is  no  Science  and 
no  Christianity. 

We  understand  that  God  is  personal  in  a  scientific 
sense,  but  is  not  corporeal  nor  anthropomorphic.  We  un- 
derstand that  God  is  not  finite ;  He  is  the  infinite  Person, 
but  not  three  persons  in  one  person.  Christian  Scientists 
are  theists  and  monotheists.  Those  who  misjudge  us  be- 
cause we  understand  that  God  is  the  infinite  One  instead 
of  three,  should  be  able  to  explain  God's  personality  ra- 
tionally. Christian  Scientists  consistently  conceive  of  God 
as  One  because  He  is  infinite ;  and  as  triune,  because  He 
is  Life,  Truth,  Love,  and  these  three  are  one  in  essence 
and  in  office. 

If  in  calling  God  "divine  Principle,"  meaning  divine 
Love,  more  frequently  than  Person,  we  merit  the  epithet 
"godless,"  we  naturally  conclude  that  he  breaks  faith  with 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  41 

his  creed,  or  has  no  possible  conception  of  ours,  who  be- 
lieves that  three  persons  are  defined  strictly  by  the  word 
Person,  or  as  One;  for  if  Person  is  God,  and  he  believes 
three  persons  constitute  the  Godhead,  does  not  Person 
here  lose  the  nature  of  one  God,  lose  monotheism,  and 
become  less  coherent  than  the  Christian  Scientist's  sense 
of  Person  as  one  divine  infinite  triune  Principle,  named  in 
the  Bible  Life,  Truth,  Love  ?  —  for  each  of  these  possesses 
the  nature  of  all,  and  God  omnipotent,  omnipresent, 
omniscient. 

Man  is  person;  therefore  divine  metaphysics  discrimi- 
nates between  God  and  man,  the  creator  and  the  created, 
by  calling  one  the  divine  Principle  of  all.  This  suggests 
another  query :  Do  Christian  Scientists  believe  in  person- 
ality ?  They  do,  but  their  personality  is  defined  spiritually, 
not  materially  —  by  Mind,  not  by  matter.  We  do  not  blot 
out  the  material  race  of  Adam,  but  leave  all  sin  to  God's 
fiat  —  self-extinction,  and  to  the  final  manifestation  of  the 
real  spiritual  man  and  universe.  We  believe,  according 
to  the  Scriptures,  that  God  is  infinite  Spirit  or  Person,  and 
man  is  His  image  and  likeness:  therefore  man  reflects 
Spirit,  not  matter. 

We  are  not  transcendentalists  to  the  extent  of  extin- 
guishing anything  that  is  real,  good,  or  true;  for  God  and 
man  in  divine  Science,  or  the  logic  of  Truth,  are  coexistent 
and  eternal,  and  the  nature  of  God  must  be  seen  in  man, 
who  is  His  eternal  image  and  likeness. 

The  theological  God  as  a  Person  necessitates  a  creed 
to  explain  both  His  person  and  nature,  whereas  God  ex- 
plains Himself  in  Christian  Science.    Is  the  human  person. 


42     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

as  defined  by  Christian  Science,  more  transcendental  than 
theology's  three  divine  persons,  that  live  in  the  Father  and 
have  no  separate  identity  ?  Who  says  the  God  of  theology 
is  a  Person,  and  the  God  of  Christian  Science  is  not  a 
person,  hence  no  God  ?  Here  is  the  departure.  Person  is 
defined  differently  by  theology,  which  reckons  three  as 
one  and  the  infinite  in  a  finite  form,  and  Christian  Science, 
which  reckons  one  as  one  and  this  one  infinite. 

Can  the  infinite  Mind  inhabit  a  finite  form  ?  Is  the  God 
of  theology  a  finite  or  an  infinite  Person?  Is  He  one 
Person,  or  three  persons?  Who  can  conceive  either  of 
three  persons  as  one  person,  or  of  three  infinites?  We 
hear  that  God  is  not  God  except  He  be  a  Person,  and  this 
Person  contains  three  persons:  yet  God  must  be  One 
although  He  is  three.  Is  this  pure,  specific  Christianity? 
and  is  God  in  Christian  Science  no  God  because  He  is  not 
after  this  model  of  personality? 

The  logic  of  divine  Science  being  faultless,  its  consequent 
Christianity  is  consistent  with  Christ's  hillside  sermon, 
which  is  set  aside  to  some  degree,  regarded  as  impracticable 
for  human  use,  its  theory  even  seldom  named. 

God  is  Person  in  the  infinite  scientific  sense  of  Him,  but 
He  can  neither  be  one  nor  infinite  in  the  corporeal  or  an- 
thropomorphic sense. 

Our  departure  from  theological  personality  is,  that  God's 
personality  must  be  as  infinite  as  Mind  is.  We  believe  in 
God  as  the  infinite  Person;  but  lose  all  conceivable  idea 
of  Him  as  a  finite  Person  with  an  infinite  Mind.  That 
God  is  either  inconceivable,  or  is  manlike,  is  not  my  sense 
of  Him.    In  divine  Science  He  is  "altogether  lovely,"  and 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  43 

consistently  conceivable  as  the  personality  of  infinite  Love, 
infinite  Spirit,  than  whom  there  is  none  other. 

Scholastic  theology  makes  God  manlike;  Christian 
Science  makes  man  Godlike.  The  trinity  of  the  Godhead 
in  Christian  Science  being  Life,  Truth,  Love,  constitutes 
the  individuaUty  of  the  infinite  Person  or  divine  intelligence 
called  God. 

Again,  God  being  infinite  Mind,  He  is  the  all-wise,  all- 
knowing,  all-loving  Father-Mother,  for  God  made  man  in 
His  own  image  and  likeness,  and  made  them  male  and 
female  as  the  Scriptures  declare;  then  does  not  our 
heavenly  Parent  —  the  divine  Mind  —  include  within  this 
Mind  the  thoughts  that  express  the  different  mentalities 
of  man  and  woman,  whereby  we  may  consistently  say, 
"Our  Father-Mother  God"  ?  And  does  not  this  heavenly 
Parent  know  and  supply  the  differing  needs  of  the  indi- 
vidual mind  even  as  the  Scriptures  declare  He  will  ? 

Because  Christian  Scientists  call  their  God  "divine 
Principle,"  as  well  as  infinite  Person,  they  have  not  taken 
away  their  Lord,  and  know  not  where  they  have  laid  Him. 
They  do  not  believe  there  must  be  something  tangible  to 
the  personal  material  senses  in  order  that  belief  may  attend 
their  petitions  to  divine  Love.  The  God  whom  all  Chris- 
tians now  claim  to  believe  in  and  worship  cannot  be  con- 
ceived of  on  that  basis ;  He  cannot  be  apprehended  through 
the  material  senses,  nor  can  they  gain  any  evidence  of  His 
presence  thereby.  Jesus  said,  "Thomas,  because  thou 
hast  seen  me,  thou  hast  believed:  blessed  are  they  that 
have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  beheved." 


44     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 


Christ  is  One  and  Divine 

Again  I  reiterate  this  cardinal  point:  There  is  but  one 
Christ,  and  Christ  is  divine  —  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  spiritual 
idea  of  the  divine  Principle,  Love.  Is  this  scientific  state- 
ment more  transcendental  than  the  belief  of  our  brethren, 
who  regard  Jesus  as  God  and  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  third 
person  in  the  Godhead?  When  Jesus  said,  "I  and  my 
Father  are  one,"  and  "my  Father  is  greater  than  I,"  this 
was  said  in  the  sense  that  one  ray  of  hght  is  light,  and  it 
is  one  with  light,  but  it  is  not  the  full-orbed  sun.  There- 
fore we  have  the  authority  of  Jesus  for  saying  Christ  is  not 
Gt)d,  but  an  impartation  of  Him. 

Again:  Is  man,  according  to  Christian  Science,  more 
transcendental  than  God  made  him  ?  Can  he  be  too  spir- 
itual, since  Jesus  said,  "Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect"?  Is  God 
Spirit?  He  is.  Then  is  man  His  image  and  hkeness, 
according  to  Holy  Writ  ?  He  is.  Then  can  man  be  mate- 
rial, or  less  than  spiritual  ?  As  God  made  man,  is  he  not 
wholly  spiritual  ?  The  reflex  image  of  Spirit  is  not  unlike 
Spirit.  The  logic  of  divine  metaphysics  makes  man  none 
too  transcendental,  if  we  follow  the  teachings  of  the 
Bible. 

The  Christ  was  Jesus'  spiritual  selfhood;  therefore 
Christ  existed  prior  to  Jesus,  who  said,  "Before  Abraham 
was,  I  am."  Jesus,  the  only  immaculate,  was  born  of  a 
virgin  mother,  and  Christian  Science  explains  that  mystic 
saying  of  the  Master  as  to  his  dual  personality,  or  the  spir- 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  45 

itual  and  material  Christ  Jesus,  called  in  Scripture  the 
Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  man  —  explains  it  as  referring 
to  his  eternal  spiritual  selfhood  and  his  temporal  man- 
hood. Christian  Science  shows  clearly  that  God  is  the 
only  generating  or  regenerating  power. 

The  ancient  worthies  caught  glorious  glimpses  of  the 
Messiah  or  Christ,  and  their  truer  sense  of  Christ  baptized 
them  in  Spirit  —  submerged  them  in  a  sense  so  pure  it 
made  seers  of  men,  and  Christian  healers.  This  is  the 
"Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,"  spoken  of  by  St.  Paul. 
It  is  also  the  mysticism  complained  of  by  the  rabbis,  who 
crucified  Jesus  and  called  him  a  "deceiver."  Yea,  it  is 
the  healing  power  of  Truth  that  is  persecuted  to-day,  the 
spirit  of  divine  Love,  and  Christ  Jesus  possessed  it,  prac- 
tised it,  and  taught  his  followers  to  do  likewise.  This 
spirit  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  the  flesh,  healing  and  sav- 
ing men, — it  is  the  Christ,  Comforter,  "  which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world ; "  and  yet  Christ  is  rejected  of  men ! 

The  evil  in  human  nature  foams  at  the  touch  of  good; 
it  crieth  out,  "Let  us  alone;  what  have  we  to  do  with 
thee,  .  .  .  ?  art  thou  come  to  destroy  us  ?  I  know  thee  who 
thou  art;  the  Holy  One  of  God."  The  Holy  Spirit  takes 
of  the  things  of  God  and  showeth  them  unto  the  creature ; 
and  these  things  being  spiritual,  they  disturb  the  carnal 
and  destroy  it ;  they  are  revolutionary,  reformatory,  and  — 
now,  as  aforetime  —  they  cast  out  evils  and  heal  the  sick. 
He  of  God's  household  who  loveth  and  liveth  most  the 
things  of  Spirit,  receiveth  them  most ;  he  speaketh  wisely, 
for  the  spirit  of  his  Father  speaketh  through  him;  he 
worketh  well  and  healeth  quickly,  for  the  spirit  giveth  him 


V^  OF  THE 

.  -  .  _-  r^  f-  1  •  r  V 


46     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

liberty:  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall 
make  you  free." 

Jesus  said,  "For  all  these  things  they  will  deliver  you 
up  to  the  councils  "  and  "If  they  have  called  the  master 
of  the  house  Beelzebub,  how  much  more  shall  they  call 
them  of  his  household?  Fear  them  not  therefore:  for 
there  is  nothing  covered,  that  shall  not  be  revealed." 

Christ  being  the  Son  of  God,  a  spiritual,  divine  emana- 
tion, Christ  must  be  spiritual,  not  material.  Jesus  was 
the  son  of  Mary,  therefore  the  son  of  man  only  in  the 
sense  that  man  is  the  generic  term  for  both  male  and 
female.  The  Christ  was  not  human.  Jesus  was  human, 
but  the  Christ  Jesus  represented  both  the  divine  and  the 
human,  God  and  man.  The  Science  of  divine  metaphysics 
removes  the  mysticism  that  used  to  enthrall  my  sense  of 
the  Godhead,  and  of  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God  and  the  son 
of  man.  Christian  Science  explains  the  nature  of  God  as 
both  Father  and  Mother. 

Theoretically  and  practically  man's  salvat^'on  comes 
through  "  the  riches  of  His  grace  "  in  Christ  Jesus.  Divine 
Love  spans  the  dark  passage  of  sin,  disease,  and  death  with 
Christ's  righteousness,  —  the  atonement  of  Christ,  whereby 
good  destroys  evil,  —  and  the  victory  over  self,  sin,  disease, 
and  death,  is  won  after  the  pattern  of  the  mount.  This  is 
working  out  our  own  salvation,  for  God  worketh  with  us, 
until  there  shall  be  nothing  left  to  perish  or  to  be  pun- 
ished, and  we  emerge  gently  into  Life  everlasting.  This 
is  what  the  Scriptures  demand  —  faith  according  to 
works. 

After  Jesus  had  fulfilled  his  mission  in  the  flesh  as  the 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  47 

Son  of  man,  he  rose  to  the  fulness  of  his  stature  in  Christ, 
the  eternal  Son  of  God,  that  never  suffered  and  never 
died.  And  because  of  Jesus'  great  work  on  earth,  his  dem- 
onstration over  sin,  disease,  and  death,  the  divine  nature 
of  Christ  Jesus  has  risen  to  human  apprehension,  and  we 
see  the  Son  of  man  in  divine  Science ;  and  he  is  no  longer 
a  material  man,  and  mind  is  no  longer  in  matter.  Through 
this  redemptive  Christ,  Truth,  we  are  healed  and  saved, 
and  that  not  of  our  selves,  it  is  the  gift  of  God ;  we  are 
saved  from  the  sins  and  sufferings  of  the  flesh,  and  are 
the  redeemed  of  the  Lord. 


The  Christian  Scientists'  Pastor 

True,  I  have  made  the  Bible,  and  "Science  and  Health 
with  Key  to  the  Scriptures,"  the  pastor  for  all  the  churches 
of  the  Christian  Science  denomination,  but  that  does  not 
make  it  impossible  for  this  pastor  of  ours  to  preach  I  To 
my  sense  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  read  each  Sunday 
without  comment  and  obeyed  throughout  the  week,  would 
be  enough  for  Christian  practice.  The  Word  of  God  is  a 
powerful  preacher,  and  it  is  not  too  spiritual  to  be  prac- 
tical, nor  too  transcendental  to  be  heard  and  understood. 
Whosoever  saith  there  is  no  sermon  without  personal 
preaching,  forgets  what  Christian  Scientists  do  not,  namely, 
that  God  is  a  Person,  and  that  he  should  be  willing  to  hear 
a  sermon  from  his  personal  God  I 

But,  my  brethren,  the  Scripture  saith,  "Answer  not  a 
fool  according  to  his  folly,  lest  thou  also  be  like  unto  him." 
St.  Paul  complains  of  him  whose  god  is  his  belly:  to 


48     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

such  a  one  our  mode  of  worship  may  be  intangible,  for  it 
is  not  felt  with  the  fingers;  but  the  spiritual  sense  drinks 
it  in,  and  it  corrects  the  material  sense  and  heals  the  sin- 
ning and  the  sick.  If  St.  John  should  tell  that  man  that 
Jesus  came  neither  eating  nor  drinking,  and  that  he  bap- 
tized with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,  he  would  natu- 
rally reply,  **  That  is  too  transcendental  for  me  to  believe, 
or  for  my  worship.  That  is  Johnism,  and  only  Johnites 
would  be  seen  in  such  company."  But  this  is  human :  even 
the  word  Christian  was  anciently  an  opprobrium;  — 
hence  the  Scripture,  "When  the  Son  of  man  cometh,  shall 
he  find  faith  on  the  earth?" 

Though  a  man  were  begirt  with  the  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim  of  priestly  oflSce,  yet  should  not  have  charity,  or  should 
deny  the  validity  and  permanence  of  Christ's  command  to 
heal  in  all  ages,  he  would  dishonor  that  oflBce  and  misin- 
terpret evangelical  religion.  Divine  Science  is  not  an  in- 
terpolation of  the  Scriptures,  it  is  redolent  with  health, 
holiness,  and  love.  It  only  needs  the  prism  of  divine 
Science,  which  scholastic  theology  has  obscured,  to  divide 
the  rays  of  Truth,  and  bring  out  the  entire  hues  of  God. 
The  lens  of  Science  magnifies  the  divine  power  to  human 
sight;  and  we  then  see  the  allness  of  Spirit,  therefore  the 
nothingness  of  matter. 

No  Reality  in  Evil  or  Sin 

Incorporeal  evil  embodies  itself  in  the  so-called  corpo- 
real, and  thus  is  manifest  in  the  flesh.  Evil  is  neither 
quality  nor  quantity :   it  is  not  intelligence,  a  person  or  a 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  49 

principle,  a  man  or  a  woman,  a  place  or  a  thing,  and  God 
never  made  it.  The  outcome  of  evil,  called  sin,  is  another 
nonentity  that  beUttles  itself  until  it  annihilates  its  own 
embodiment:  this  is  the  only  annihilation.  The  visible 
sin  should  be  invisible:  it  ought  not  to  be  seen,  felt,  or 
acted :  and  because  it  ought  not,  we  must  know  it  is  not, 
and  that  sin  is  a  lie  from  the  beginning,  —  an  illusion, 
nothing,  and  only  an  assumption  that  nothing  is  something. 
It  is  not  well  to  maintain  the  position  that  sin  is  sin  and 
can  take  possession  of  us  and  destroy  us,  but  well  that  we 
take  possession  of  sin  with  such  a  sense  of  its  nullity  as 
destroys  it.  Sin  can  have  neither  entity,  verity,  nor  power 
thus  regarded,  and  we  verify  Jesus'  words,  that  evil,  alias 
devil,  sin,  is  a  lie  —  therefore  is  nothing  and  the  father  of 
nothingness.  Christian  Science  lays  the  axe  at  the  root  of 
sin,  and  destroys  it  on  the  very  basis  of  nothingness.  When 
man  makes  something  of  sin  it  is  either  because  he  fears  it 
or  loves  it.  Now,  destroy  the  conception  of  sin  as  some- 
thing, a  reality,  and  you  destroy  the  fear  and  the  love  of 
it;  and  sin  disappears.  A  man's  fear,  unconquered,  con- 
quers him,  in  whatever  direction. 

In  Christian  Science  it  is  plain  that  God  removes  the 
punishment  for  sin  only  as  the  sin  is  removed  —  never 
punishes  it  only  as  it  is  destroyed,  and  never  afterwards; 
hence  the  hope  of  universal  salvation.  It  is  a  sense  of  sin, 
and  not  a  sinful  soul,  that  is  lost.  Soul  is  immortal,  but 
sin  is  mortal.  To  lose  the  sense  of  sin  we  must  first  detect 
the  claim  of  sin ;  hold  it  invalid,  give  it  the  lie,  and  then 
we  get  the  victory,  sin  disappears,  and  its  unreality  is 
proven.    So  long  as  we  indulge  the  presence  or  beUeve  in 


50     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

the  power  of  sin,  it  sticks  to  us  and  has  power  over  us. 
Again :  To  assume  there  is  no  reahty  in  sin,  and  yet  com- 
mit sin,  is  sin  itself,  that  cHngs  fast  to  iniquity.  The 
PubUcan's  wail  won  his  humble  desire,  while  the  Phari- 
see's self-righteousness  crucified  Jesus. 

Do  Christian  Scientists  believe  that  evil  exists?  We 
answer.  Yes  and  No!  Yes,  inasmuch  as  we  do  know 
that  evil,  as  a  false  claim,  false  entity,  and  utter  falsity, 
does  exist  in  thought;  and  No,  as  something  that  enjoys, 
suffers,  or  is  real.  Our  only  departure  from  ecclesias- 
ticism  on  this  subject  is,  that  our  faith  takes  hold  of  the 
fact  that  evil  cannot  be  made  so  real  as  to  frighten  us 
and  so  master  us,  or  to  make  us  love  it  and  so  hinder  our 
way  to  holiness.  We  regard  evil  as  a  lie,  an  illusion, 
therefore  as  unreal  as  a  mirage  that  misleads  the  traveller 
on  his  way  home. 

It  is  self-evident  that  error  is  not  Truth ;  then  it  follows 
that  it  is  untrue ;  and  if  untrue,  unreal ;  and  if  unreal,  to 
conceive  of  error  as  either  right  or  real  is  sin  in  itself.  To 
be  delivered  from  believing  in  what  is  unreal,  from  fear- 
ing it,  following  it,  or  loving  it,  one  must  watch  and  pray 
that  he  enter  not  into  temptation  —  even  as  one  guards 
his  door  against  the  approach  of  thieves.  Wrong  is 
thought  before  it  is  acted ;  you  must  control  it  in  the  first 
instance,  or  it  will  control  you  in  the  second.  To  over- 
come all  wrong,  it  must  become  unreal  to  us :  and  it  is 
good  to  know  that  wrong  has  no  divine  authority ;  there- 
fore man  is  its  master.  I  rejoice  in  the  scientific  appre- 
hension of  this  grand  verity. 

The   evil-doer  receives   no  encouragement   from   my 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  51 

declaration  that  evil  is  unreal,  when  I  declare  that  he 
must  awake  from  his  belief  in  this  awful  unreality,  repent 
and  forsake  it,  in  order  to  understand  and  demonstrate 
its  unreality.  Error  uncondemned  is  not  nullified.  We 
must  condemn  the  claim  of  error  in  every  phase  in  order 
to  prove  it  false,  therefore  unreal. 

The  Christian  Scientist  has  enlisted  to  lessen  sin,  dis- 
ease, and  death,  and  he  overcomes  them  through  Christ, 
Truth,  teaching  him  that  they  cannot  overcome  us.  The 
resistance  to  Christian  Science  weakens  in  proportion  as 
one  understands  it  and  demonstrates  the  Science  of 
Christianity. 

A  sinner  ought  not  to  be  at  ease,  or  he  would  never  quit 
sinning.  The  most  deplorable  sight  is  to  contemplate  the 
infinite  blessings  that  divine  Love  bestows  on  mortals,  and 
their  ingratitude  and  hate,  filling  up  the  measure  of 
wickedness  against  all  light.  I  can  conceive  of  little  short 
of  the  old  orthodox  hell  to  waken  such  a  one  from 
his  deluded  sense;  for  all  sin  is  a  deluded  sense,  and 
dis-ease  in  sin  is  better  than  ease.  Some  mortals  may 
even  need  to  hear  the  following  thunderbolt  of  Jonathan 
Edwards :  — 

"It  is  nothing  but  God*s  mere  pleasure  that  keeps  you 
from  being  this  moment  swallowed  up  in  everlasting  de- 
struction. 'He  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  bear  to  have  you  in 
His  sight.  There  is  no  other  reason  to  be  given  why  you 
have  not  gone  to  hell  since  you  have  sat  here  in  the  house 
of  God,  provoking  His  pure  eyes  by  your  sinful,  wicked 
manner  of  attending  His  solemn  worship.  Yea,  there  is 
nothing  else  that  is  to  be  given  as  a  reason  why  you  do 


52     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

not  at  this  moment  drop  down  into  hell,  but  that  God's 
hand  has  held  you  up." 


Future  Punishment  of  Sin 

My  views  of  a  future  and  eternal  punishment  take  in  a 
poignant  present  sense  of  sin  and  its  suffering,  punishing 
itself  here  and  hereafter  till  the  sin  is  destroyed.  St. 
John's  types  of  sin  scarcely  equal  the  modern  nonde- 
scripts, whereby  the  demon  of  this  world,  its  lusts,  falsi- 
ties, envy,  and  hate,  supply  sacrilegious  gossip  with  the 
verbiage  of  hades.  But  hatred  gone  mad  becomes  im- 
becile —  outdoes  itself  and  commits  suicide.  Then  let  the 
dead  bury  its  dead,  and  surviving  defamers  share  our  pity. 

In  the  Greek  devU  is  named  serpent  —  liar  —  the 
god  of  this  world;  and  St.  Paul  defines  this  world's  god  as 
dishonesty,  craftiness,  handling  the  word  of  God  deceit- 
fully. The  original  text  defines  devil  as  accuser, 
calumniator;  therefore,  according  to  Holy  Writ  these 
quaUties  are  objectionable,  and  ought  not  to  proceed  from 
the  individual,  the  pulpit,  or  the  press.  The  Scriptures 
once  refer  to  an  evil  spirit  as  dumbj  but  in  its  origin  evil 
was  loquacious,  and  was  supposed  to  outtalk  Truth  and 
to  carry  a  most  vital  point.  Alas  I  if  now  it  is  permitted 
license,  under  sanction  of  the  gown,  to  handle  with  gar- 
rulity age  and  Christianity  I  Shall  it  be  said  of  this  cen- 
tury that  its  greatest  discoverer  is  a  woman  to  whom  men 
go  to  mock,  and  go  away  to  pray  ?  Shall  the  hope  for  our 
race  commence  with  one  truth  told  and  one  hundred  false- 
hoods told  about  it? 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  53 

The  present  self-inflicted  sufferings  of  mortals  from  sin, 
disease,  and  death  should  suffice  so  to  awaken  the  suf- 
ferer from  the  mortal  sense  of  sin  and  mind  in  matter  as 
to  cause  him  to  return  to  the  Father's  house  penitent  and 
saved;  yea,  quickly  to  return  to  divine  Love,  the  author 
and  finisher  of  our  faith,  who  so  loves  even  the  repentant 
prodigal  —  departed  from  his  better  self  and  struggling 
to  return  —  as  to  meet  the  sad  sinner  on  his  way  and  to 
welcome  him  home. 

MEDiaNE 

Had  not  my  first  demonstrations  of  Christian  Science 
or  metaphysical  healing  exceeded  that  of  other  methods, 
they  would  not  have  arrested  public  attention  and  started 
the  great  Cause  that  to-day  commands  the  respect  of  our 
best  thinkers.  It  was  that  I  healed  the  deaf,  the  blind,  the 
dumb,  the  lame,  the  last  stages  of  consumption,  pneumonia, 
etc.,  and  restored  the  patients  in  from  one  to  three  inter- 
views, that  started  the  inquiry.  What  is  it  ?  And  when  the 
public  sentiment  would  allow  it,  and  I  had  overcome  a 
difficult  stage  of  the  work,  I  would  put  patients  into  the 
hands  of  my  students  and  retire  from  the  comparative 
ease  of  healing  to  the  next  more  difficult  stage  of  action 
for  our  Cause. 

From  my  medical  practice  I  had  learned  that  the  dynam- 
ics of  medicine  is  Mind.  In  the  highest  attenuations  of 
homoeopathy  the  drug  is  utterly  expelled,  hence  it  must 
be  mind  that  controls  the  effect;  and  this  attenuation  in 
some  cases  healed  where  the  allopathic  doses  would  not. 


54     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

When  the  "mother  tincture  "  of  one  grain  of  the  drug  was 
attenuated  one  thousand  degrees  less  than  in  the  beginning, 
that  was  my  favorite  dose. 

The  weak  criticisms  and  woeful  warnings  concerning 
Christian  Science  healing  are  less  now  than  were  the 
sneers  forty  years  ago  at  the  medicine  of  homoeopathy; 
and  the  medicine  of  Mind  is  more  honored  and  respected 
to-day  than  the  old-time  medicine  of  matter.  Those  who 
laugh  at  or  pray  against  transcendentalism  and  the  Chris- 
tian Scientist's  religion  or  his  medicine,  should  know  the 
danger  of  questioning  Christ  Jesus'  healing,  who  admin- 
istered no  remedy  apart  from  Mind,  and  taught  his  dis- 
ciples none  other.  Christian  Science  seems  transcendental 
because  the  substance  of  Truth  transcends  the  evidence 
of  the  five  personal  senses,  and  is  discerned  only  through 
divine  Science. 

If  God  created  drugs  for  medical  use,  Jesus  and  his 
disciples  would  have  used  them  and  named  them  for  that 
purpose,  for  he  came  to  do  "the  will  of  the  Father."  The 
doctor  who  teaches  that  a  human  hypothesis  is  above  a 
demonstration  of  healing,  yea,  above  the  grandeur  of  our 
great  master  Metaphysician's  precept  and  example,  and 
that  of  his  followers  in  the  early  centuries,  should  read 
this  Scripture:  "The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart.  There  is 
no  God." 

The  divine  Life,  Truth,  Love  —  whom  men  call  God  — 
is  the  Christian  Scientists'  healer ;  and  if  God  destroys  the 
popular  triad  —  sin,  sickness,  and  death  —  remember  it 
is  He  who  does  it  and  so  proves  their  nullity. 

Christians  and  clergymen  pray  for  sinners ;  they  believe 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  55 

that  God  answers  their  prayers,  and  that  prayer  is  a  divinely 
appointed  means  of  grace  and  salvation.  They  believe 
that  divine  power,  besought,  is  given  to  them  in  times  of 
trouble,  and  that  He  worketh  with  them  to  save  sinners. 
I  love  this  doctrine,  for  I  know  that  prayer  brings  the 
seeker  into  closer  proximity  with  divine  Love,  and  thus 
he  finds  what  he  seeks,  the  power  of  God  to  heal  and  to 
save.  Jesus  said,  "Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive;"  and  if  not 
immediately,  continue  to  ask,  and  because  of  your  often 
coming  it  shall  be  given  unto  you ;  and  he  illustrated  his 
saying  by  a  parable. 

The  notion  that  mixing  material  and  spiritual  means, 
either  in  medicine  or  in  religion,  is  wise  or  efficient,  is 
proven  false.  That  animal  natures  give  force  to  character 
is  egregious  nonsense  —  a  flat  departure  from  Jesus' 
practice  and  proof.  Let  us  remember  that  the  great  Meta- 
physician healed  the  sick,  raised  the  dead,  and  com- 
manded even  the  winds  and  waves,  which  obeyed  him 
through  spiritual  ascendency  alone. 

Mental  Malpractice 

From  ordinary  mental  practice  to  Christian  Science  is  a 
long  ascent,  but  to  go  from  the  use  of  inanimate  drugs  to 
any  susceptible  misuse  of  the  human  mind,  such  as  mes- 
merism, hypnotism,  and  the  like,  is  to  subject  mankind 
unwarned  and  undefended  to  the  unbridled  individual 
human  will.  The  currents  of  God  flow  through  no  such 
channels. 

The  whole  world  needs  to  know  that  the  milder  forms 


56     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

of  animal  magnetism  and  hypnotism  are  yielding  to  its 
aggressive  features.  We  have  no  moral  right  and  no 
authority  in  Christian  Science  for  influencing  the  thoughts 
of  others,  except  it  be  to  serve  God  and  benefit  mankind. 
Man  is  properly  self-governed,  and  he  should  be  guided 
by  no  other  mind  than  Truth,  the  divine  Mind.  Christian 
Science  gives  neither  moral  right  nor  might  to  harm  either 
man  or  beast.  The  Christian  Scientist  is  alone  with  his 
own  being  and  with  the  reality  of  things.  The  mental 
malpractitioner  is  not,  cannot  be,  a  Christian  Scientist ;  he 
is  disloyal  to  God  and  man;  he  has  every  opportunity  to 
mislead  the  human  mind,  and  he  uses  it.  People  may 
listen  complacently  to  the  suggestion  of  the  inaudible 
falsehood,  not  knowing  what  is  hurting  them  or  that  they 
are  hurt.  This  mental  bane  could  not  bewilder,  darken,  or 
misguide  consciousness,  physically,  morally,  or  spiritually, 
if  the  individual  knew  what  was  at  work  and  his  power 
over  it. 

This  unseen  evil  is  the  sin  of  sins ;  it  is  never  forgiven. 
Even  the  agony  and  death  that  it  must  sooner  or  later 
cause  the  perpetrator,  cannot  blot  out  its  effects  on  him- 
self till  he  suffers  up  to  its  extinction  and  stops  practising 
it.  The  crimes  committed  under  this  new-old  regime  of 
necromancy  or  diabolism  are  not  easily  reckoned.  At 
present  its  mystery  protects  it,  but  its  hidden  modus  and 
flagrance  will  finally  be  known,  and  the  laws  of  our  land 
will  handle  its  thefts,  adulteries,  and  murders,  and  will 
pass  sentence  on  the  darkest  and  deepest  of  human 
crimes. 

Christian  Scientists  are  not  hypnotists,  they  are  not 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  57 

mortal  mind-curists,  nor  faith-curists ;  they  have  faith, 
but  they  have  Science,  understanding,  and  works  as  well. 
They  are  not  the  addenda,  the  et  ceteras,  or  new  editions 
of  old  errors;  but  they  are  what  they  are,  namely,  stu- 
dents of  a  demonstrable  Science  leading  the  ages. 

Questionable  Metaphysics 

In  an  article  published  in   the   New   York  Journal, 

Rev. writes :  "To  the  famous  Bishop  Berkeley  of  the 

Church  of  England  may  be  traced  many  of  the  ideas  about 
the  spiritual  world  which  are  now  taught  in  Christian 
Science." 

This  clergyman  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  Christian 
Science  will  be  improved  in  its  teaching  and  authorship 
after  Mrs.  Eddy  has  gone.  I  am  sorry  for  my  critic,  who 
reckons  hopefully  on  the  death  of  an  individual  who  loves 
GkKl  and  man;  such  foreseeing  is  not  foreknowing,  and 
exhibits  a  starthng  ignorance  of  Christian  Science,  and  a 
manifest  unfitness  to  criticise  it  or  to  compare  its  literature. 
He  begins  his  calculation  erroneously;  for  Life  is  the 
Principle  of  Christian  Science  and  of  its  results.  Death 
is  neither  the  predicate  nor  postulate  of  Truth,  and  Christ 
came  not  to  bring  death  but  life  into  the  world.  Does  this 
critic  know  of  a  better  way  than  Christ's  whereby  to  benefit 
the  race?  My  faith  assures  me  that  God  knows  more 
than  any  man  on  this  subject,  for  did  He  not  know  all 
things  and  results  I  should  not  have  known  Christian 
Science,  or  felt  the  incipient  touch  of  divine  Love  which 
inspired  it. 


58     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

That  God  is  good,  that  Truth  is  true,  and  Science  is 
Science,  who  can  doubt ;  and  whosoever  demonstrates  the 
truth  of  these  propositions  is  to  some  extent  a  Christian 
Scientist.  Is  Science  material?  No!  It  is  the  Mind  of 
God  —  and  God  is  Spirit.  Is  Truth  material  ?  No ! 
Therefore  I  do  not  try  to  mix  matter  and  Spirit,  since 
Science  does  not  and  they  will  not  mix.  I  am  a  spiritual 
homoeopathist  in  that  I  do  not  believe  in  such  a  compound. 
Truth  and  Truth  is  not  a  compound ;  Spirit  and  Spirit  is 
not:  but  Truth  and  error.  Spirit  and  matter,  are  com- 
pounds and  opposites ;  so  if  one  is  true,  the  other  is  false. 
If  Truth  is  true,  its  opposite,  error,  is  not ;  and  if  Spirit  is 
true  and  infinite,  it  hath  no  opposite;  therefore  matter 
cannot  be  a  reality. 

I  begin  at  the  feet  of  Christ  and  with  the  numeration 
table  of  Christian  Science.  But  I  do  not  say  that  one  added 
to  one  is  three,  or  one  and  a  half,  nor  say  this  to  accom- 
modate popular  opinion  as  to  the  Science  of  Christianity. 
I  adhere  to  my  text,  that  one  and  one  are  two  all  the  way 
up  to  the  infinite  calculus  of  the  infinite  God.  The  numer- 
ation table  of  Christian  Science,  its  divine  Principle  and 
rules,  are  before  the  people,  and  the  different  religious 
sects  and  the  differing  schools  of  medicine  are  discussing 
them  as  if  they  understood  its  Principle  and  rules  before 
they  have  learned  its  numeration  table,  and  insist  that  the 
public  receive  their  sense  of  the  Science,  or  that  it  receive 
no  sense  whatever  of  it. 

Again :  Even  the  numeration  table  of  Christian  Science 
is  not  taught  correctly  by  those  who  have  departed  from 
its  absolute  simple  statement  as  to  Spirit  and  matter,  and 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  59 

that  one  and  two  are  neither  more  nor  less  than  three; 
and  losing  the  numeration  table  and  the  logic  of  Christian 
Science,  they  have  little  left  that  the  sects  and  faculties 
can  grapple.  If  Christian  Scientists  only  would  admit 
that  God  is  Spirit  and  infinite,  yet  that  God  has  an  oppo- 
site and  that  the  infinite  is  not  all;  that  God  is  good  and 
infinite,  yet  that  evil  exists  and  is  real,  —  thence  it  would 
follow  that  evil  must  either  exist  in  good,  or  exist  outside 
of  the  infiiiite,  —  they  would  be  in  peace  with  the 
schools. 

This  departure,  however,  from  the  scientific  statement, 
the  divine  Principle,  rule,  or  demonstration  of  Christian 
Science,  results  as  would  a  change  of  the  denominations 
of  mathematics;  and  you  cannot  demonstrate  Christian 
Science  except  on  its  fixed  Principle  and  given  rule,  ac- 
cording to  the  Master's  teaching  and  proof.  He  was  ultra ; 
he  was  a  reformer ;  he  laid  the  axe  at  the  root  of  all  error, 
amalgamation,  and  compounds.  He  used  no  material 
medicine,  nor  recommended  it,  and  taught  his  disciples 
and  followers  to  do  likewise;  therefore  he  demonstrated 
his  power  over  matter,  sin,  disease,  and  death,  as  no  other 
person  has  ever  demonstrated  it. 

Bishop  Berkeley  published  a  book  in  1710  entitled 
"Treatise  Concerning  the  Principle  of  Human  Knowl- 
edge." Its  object  was  to  deny,  on  received  principles  of 
philosophy,  the  reality  of  an  external  material  world.  In 
later  publications  he  declared  physical  substance  to  be 
"only  the  constant  relation  between  phenomena  connected 
by  association  and  conjoined  by  the  operations  of  the 
universal  mind,  nature  being  nothing  more  than  conscious 


60    MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

experience.  Matter  apart  from  conscious  mind  is  an  impos- 
sible and  unreal  concept.  He  denies  the  existence  of 
matter,  and  argues  that  matter  is  not  without  the  mind, 
but  within  it,  and  that  that  which  is  generally  called 
matter  is  only  an  impression  produced  by  divine  power  on 
the  mind  by  means  of  invariable  rules  styled  the  laws  of 
nature."  Here  he  makes  God  the  cause  of  all  the  ills  of 
mortals  and  the  casualties  of  earth. 

Again,  while  descanting  on  the  virtues  of  tar-water,  he 
writes:  "I  esteem  my  having  taken  this  medicine  the 
greatest  of  all  temporal  blessings,  and  am  convinced  that 
under  Providence  I  owe  my  life  to  it."  Making  matter 
more  potent  than  Mind,  when  the  storms  of  disease  beat 
against  Bishop  Berkeley's  metaphysics  and  personality  he 
fell,  and  great  was  the  fall  —  from  divine  metaphysics  to 
tar-water ! 

Christian  Science  is  more  than  two  hundred  years  old. 
It  dates  beyond  Socrates,  Leibnitz,  Berkeley,  Darwin,  or 
Huxley.  It  is  as  old  as  God,  although  its  earthly  advent 
is  called  the  Christian  era. 

I  had  not  read  one  line  of  Berkeley's  writings  when  I 
published  my  work  Science  and  Health,  the  Christian 
Science  textbook. 

In  contradistinction  to  his  views  I  found  it  necessary  to 
follow  Jesus'  teachings,  and  none  other,  in  order  to 
demonstrate  the  divine  Science  of  Christianity  —  the  meta- 
physics of  Christ  —  healing  all  manner  of  diseases.  Phil- 
osophy, materia  medica,  and  scholastic  theology  were 
inadequate  to  prove  the  doctrine  of  Jesus,  and  I  relin- 
quished  the  form    to   attain  the   spirit    or  mystery    of 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  61 

godliness.  Hence  the  mysticism,  so  called,  of  my  writings 
becomes  clear  to  the  godly. 

Building  on  the  rock  of  Christ's  teachings,  we  have  a 
superstructure  eternal  in  the  heavens,  omnipotent  on  earth, 
encompassing  time  and  eternity.  The  stone  which  the 
builders  reject  is  apt  to  be  the  cross,  which  they  reject  and 
whereby  is  won  the  crown  and  the  head  of  the  corner. 

A  knowledge  of  philosophy  and  of  medicine,  the  scho- 
lasticism of  a  bishop,  and  the  metaphysics  (so  called) 
which  mix  matter  and  mind,  —  certain  individuals  call 
aids  to  divine  metaphysics,  and  regret  their  lack  in  my 
books,  which  because  of  their  more  spiritual  import  heal 
the  sick!  No  Christly  axioms,  practices,  or  parables  are 
alluded  to  or  required  in  such  metaphysics,  and  the  dem- 
onstration of  matter  minus,  and  God  all,  ends  in  some 
specious  folly. 

The  great  Metaphysician,  Christ  Jesus,  denounced  all 
such  gilded  sepulchres  of  his  time  and  of  all  time.  He 
never  recommended  drugs,  he  never  used  them.  What, 
then,  is  our  authority  in  Christianity  for  metaphysics  based 
on  materialism  ?  He  demonstrated  what  he  taught.  Had 
he  taught  the  power  of  Spirit,  and  along  with  this  the 
power  of  matter,  he  would  have  been  as  contradictory 
as  the  blending  of  good  and  evil,  and  the  latter  superior, 
which  Satan  demanded  in  the  beginning,  and  which  has 
since  been  avowed  to  be  as  real,  and  matter  as  useful,  as 
the  infinite  God,  —  good,  —  which,  if  indeed  Spirit  and 
infinite,  excludes  evil  and  matter.  Jesus  likened  such 
self-contradictions  to  a  kingdom  divided  against  itself, 
that  cannot  stand. 


62     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

The  unity  and  consistency  of  Jesus*  theory  and  practice 
give  my  tired  sense  of  false  philosophy  and  material  the- 
ology rest.  The  great  teacher,  preacher,  and  demonstrator 
of  Christianity  is  the  Master,  who  founded  his  system  of 
metaphysics  only  on  Christ,  Truth,  and  supported  it  by 
his  words  and  deeds. 

The  five  personal  senses  can  have  only  a  finite  sense 
of  the  infinite:  therefore  the  metaphysician  is  sensual 
that  combines  matter  with  Spirit.  In  one  sentence  he 
declaims  against  matter,  in  the  next  he  endows  it  with  a 
life-giving  quality  not  to  be  found  in  God !  and  turns 
away  from  Christ's  purely  spiritual  means  to  the  schools 
and  matter  for  help  in  times  of  need. 

I  have  passed  through  deep  waters  to  preserve  Christ's 
vesture  unrent ;  then,  when  land  is  reached  and  the  world 
aroused,  shall  the  word  popularity  be  pinned  to  the  seam- 
less robe,  and  they  cast  lots  for  it  ?  God  forbid !  Let 
it  be  left  to  such  as  see  God  —  to  the  pure  in  spirit, 
and  the  meek  that  inherit  the  earth;  left  to  them  of  a 
sound  faith  and  charity,  the  greatest  of  which  is  charity 
—  spiritual  love.  St.  Paul  said:  "Though  I  speak 
with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have  not 
charity,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkhng 
cymbal." 

Before  leaving  this  subject  of  the  old  metaphysicians, 
allow  me  to  add  I  have  read  little  of  their  writings.  I  was 
not  drawn  to  them  by  a  native  or  an  acquired  taste  for 
what  was  problematic  and  self-contradictory.  What  I 
have  given  to  the  world  on  the  subject  of  metaphysical 
healing  or  Christian  Science  is  the  result  of  my  own  ob- 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  63 

servation,  experlfence,  and  final  discovery,  quite  independ- 
ent of  all  other  authors  except  the  Bible. 

My  critic  also  writes:  "The  best  contributions  that 
have  been  made  to  the  literature  of  Christian  Science  have 
been  by  Mrs.  Eddy's  followers.  I  look  to  see  some  St. 
Paul  arise  among  the  Christian  Scientists  who  will  inter- 
pret their  ideas  and  principles  more  clearly,  and  apply 
them  more  rationally  to  human  needs." 

My  works  are  the  first  ever  published  on  Christian 
Science,  and  nothing  has  since  appeared  that  is  correct 
on  this  subject  the  basis  whereof  cannot  be  traced  to  some 
of  those  works.  The  apphcation  of  Christian  Science  is 
healing  and  reforming  mankind.  If  any  one  as  yet  has 
healed  hopeless  cases,  such  as  I  have  in  one  to  three  inter- 
views with  the  patients,  I  shall  rejoice  in  being  informed 
thereof.  Or  if  a  modern  St.  Paul  could  start  thirty  years 
ago  without  a  Christian  Scientist  on  earth,  and  in  this 
interval  number  one  million,  and  an  equal  number  of  sick 
healed,  also  sinners  reformed  and  the  habits  and  appe- 
tites of  mankind  corrected,  why  was  it  not  done  ?  God  is 
no  respecter  of  persons. 

I  have  put  less  of  my  own  personality  into  Christian 
Science  than  others  do  in  proportion,  as  I  have  taken  out 
of  its  metaphysics  all  matter  and  left  Christian  Science 
as  it  is,  purely  spiritual,  Christlike  —  the  Mind  of  God 
and  not  of  man  —  born  of  the  Spirit  and  not  matter. 
Professor  Agassiz  said:  "Every  great  scientific  truth  goes 
through  three  stages.  First,  people  say  it  conflicts  with 
the  Bible.  Next,  they  say  it  has  been  discovered  before. 
Lastly,  they  say  they  had  always  believed  it."     Having 


64     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

•  passed  through  the  first  two  stages,  Christian  Science  must 
be  approaching  the  last  stage  of  the  great  naturahst's 
prophecy. 

It  is  only  by  praying,  watching,  and  working  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  within  us  and  upon  earth,  that  we 
enter  the  strait  and  narrow  way,  whereof  our  Master  said, 
'  "and  few  there  be  that  find  it." 

Of  the  ancient  writers  since  the  first  century  of  the 
Christian  era  perhaps  none  lived  a  more  devout  Christian 
life  up  to  his  highest  understanding  than  St.  Augustine. 
Some  of  his  writings  have  been  translated  into  almost 
every  Christian  tongue,  and  are  classed  with  the  choicest 
memorials  of  devotion  both  in  Catholic  and  Protestant 
oratories. 

Sacred  history  shows  that  those  who  have  followed  ex- 
clusively Christ's  teaching,  have  been  scourged  in  the 
synagogues  and  persecuted  from  city  to  city.  But  this 
is  no  cause  for  not  following  it ;  and  my  only  apology  for 
trying  to  follow  it  is  that  I  love  Christ  more  than  all  the 
world,  and  my  demonstration  of  Christian  Science  in 
healing  has  proven  to  me  beyond  a  doubt  that  Christ, 
Truth,  is  indeed  the  way  of  salvation  from  all  that  work- 
eth  or  maketh  a  lie.  As  Jesus  said:  "It  is  enough  for 
the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his  master."  It  is  well  to  know 
that  even  Christ  Jesus,  who  was  not  popular  among  the 
worldHngs  in  his  age,  is  not  popular  with  them  in  this 
age;  hence  the  inference  that  he  who  would  be  popular 
if  he  could,  is  not  a  student  of  Christ  Jesus. 

After  a  hard  and  successful  career  reformers  usually 
are  handsomely  provided  for.    Has  the  thought  come  to 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  65 

Christian  Scientists,  Have  we  housed,  fed,  clothed,  or 
visited  a  reformer  for  that  purpose  ?  Have  we  looked  after 
or  even  known  of  his  sore  necessities  ?  Gifts  he  needs  not. 
God  has  provided  the  means  for  him  while  he  was  provid- 
ing ways  and  means  for  others.  But  mortals  in  the  ad- 
vancing stages  of  their  careers  need  the  watchful  and 
tender  care  of  those  who  want  to  help  them.  The  aged 
reformer  should  not  be  left  to  the  mercy  of  those  who  are 
not  glad  to  sacrifice  for  him  even  as  he  has  sacrificed  for 
others  all  the  best  of  his  earthly  years. 

I  say  this  not  because  reformers  are  not  loved,  but  be- 
cause well-meaning  people  sometimes  are  inapt  or  selfish 
in  showing  their  love.  They  are  like  children  that  go  out 
from  the  parents  who  nurtured  them,  toiled  for  them,  and 
enabled  them  to  be  grand  coworkers  for  mankind,  children 
who  forget  their  parents*  increasing  years  and  needs,  and 
whenever  they  return  to  the  old  home  go  not  to  help 
mother  but  to  recruit  themselves.  Or,  if  they  attempt 
to  help  their  parents,  and  adverse  winds  are  blowing,  this 
is  no  excuse  for  waiting  till  the  wind  shifts.  They  should 
remember  that  mother  worked  and  won  for  them  by 
facing  the  winds.  All  honor  and  success  to  those  who 
honor  their  father  and  mother.  The  individual  who  loves 
most,  does  most,  and  sacrifices  most  for  the  reformer,  is 
the  individual  who  soonest  will  walk  in  his  footsteps. 

To  aid  my  students  in  starting  under  a  tithe  of  my  own 
diflSculties,  I  allowed  them  for  several  years  fifty  cents  on 
every  book  of  mine  that  they  sold.  "With  this  percent- 
age," students  wrote  me,  "quite  quickly  we  have  regained 
our  tuition  for  the  college  course." 


66     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

Christian  Scientists  are  persecuted  even  as  all  other 
religious  denominations  have  been,  since  ever  the  primi- 
tive Christians,  "of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy." 
We  err  in  thinking  the  object  of  vital  Christianity  is  only 
the  bequeathing  of  itself  to  the  coming  centuries.  The 
successive  utterances  of  reformers  are  essential  to  its 
propagation.  The  magnitude  of  its  meaning  forbids  head- 
long haste,  and  the  consciousness  which  is  most  imbued 
struggles  to  articulate  itself. 

Christian  Scientists  are  practically  non-resistants;  they 
are  too  occupied  with  doing  good,  observing  the  Golden 
Rule,  to  retaliate  or  to  seek  redress ;  they  are  not  quacks, 
giving  birth  to  nothing  and  death  to  all,  —  but  they  are 
leaders  of  a  reform  in  religion  and  in  medicine,  and  they 
have  no  craft  that  is  in  danger. 

Even  rehgion  and  therapeutics  need  regenerating. 
Philanthropists,  and  the  higher  class  of  critics  in  theology 
and  materia  medica,  recognize  that  Christian  Science 
kindles  the  inner  genial  hfe  of  a  man,  destroying  all  lower 
considerations.  No  man  or  woman  is  roused  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  new-old  rehgion  by  the  hope  of  ease,  pleasure, 
or  recompense,  or  by  the  stress  of  the  appetites  and  pas- 
sions. And  no  emperor  is  obeyed  like  the  man  "clouting 
his  own  cloak"  —  working  alone  with  God,  yea,  like  the 
clear,  far-seeing  vision,  the  calm  courage,  and  the  great 
heart  of  the  unselfed  Christian  hero. 

I  counsel  Christian  Scientists  under  all  circumstances 
to  obey  the  Golden  Rule,  and  to  adopt  Pope's  axiom: 
"An  honest,  sensible,  and  well-bred  man  will  not  insult 
me,  and  no  other  can."     The  sensualist  and  world-wor- 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  67 

shipper  are  always  stung  by  a  clear  elucidation  of  truth, 
of  right,  and  of  wrong. 

The  only  opposing  element  that  sects  or  professions 
can  encounter  in  Christian  Science  is  Truth  opposed  to 
all  error,  specific  or  universal.  This  opposition  springs 
from  the  very  nature  of  Truth,  being  neither  personal  nor 
human,  but  divine.  Every  true  Christian  in  the  near 
future  will  learn  and  love  the  truths  of  Christian  Science 
that  now  seem  troublesome.  Jesus  said,  "I  came  not  to 
send  peace  but  a  sword." 

Has  Grod  entrusted  me  with  a  message  to  mankind  ?  — 
then  I  cannot  choose  but  obey.  After  a  long  acquaintance 
with  the  communicants  of  my  large  church,  they  regard 
me  with  no  vague,  fruitless,  inquiring  wonder.  I  can  use 
the  power  that  God  gives  me  in  no  way  except  in  the 
interest  of  the  individual  and  the  community.  To  this 
verity  every  member  of  my  church  would  bear  loving 
testimony. 

My  CmLDHOOD's  Church  Home 

Among  the  list  of  blessings  infinite  I  count  these  dear: 
Devout  orthodox  parents ;  my  early  culture  in  the  Congre- 
gational Church;  the  daily  Bible  reading  and  family 
prayer;  my  cradle  hymn  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  repeated 
at  night;  my  early  association  with  distinguished  Chris- 
tian clergymen,  who  held  fast  to  whatever  is  good,  used 
faithfully  God's  Word,  and  yielded  up  graciously  what 
He  took  away.  It  was  my  fair  fortune  to  be  often  taught 
by  some  grand  old  divines,  among  whom  were  the  Rev. 


68    MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

Abraham  Burnham  of  Pembroke,  N.  H.,  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Bouton,  D.  D.,  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  Congregationalists ; 
Rev.  Mr.  Boswell,  of  Bow,  N.  H.,  Baptist;  Rev.  Enoch 
Courser,  and  Rev.  Corban  Curtis,  Congregationalist ;  and 
Father  Hines,  Methodist  Elder.  I  became  early  a  child 
of  the  Church,  an  eager  lover  and  student  of  vital  Chris- 
tianity. Why  I  loved  Christians  of  the  old  sort  was  I 
could  not  help  loving  them.  Full  of  charity  and  good 
works,  busy  about  their  Master's  business,  they  had  no 
time  or  desire  to  defame  their  fellow-men.  God  seemed 
to  shield  the  whole  world  in  their  hearts,  and  they  were 
willing  to  renounce  all  for  Him.  When  infidels  assailed 
them,  however,  the  courage  of  their  convictions  was  seen. 
They  were  heroes  in  the  strife ;  they  armed  quickly,  aimed 
deadly,  and  spared  no  denunciation.  Their  convictions 
were  honest,  and  they  lived  them ;  and  the  sermons  their 
lives  preached  caused  me  to  love  their  doctrines. 

The  lives  of  those  old-fashioned  leaders  of  religion  ex- 
plain in  a  few  words  a  good  man.  They  fill  the  ecclesi- 
astic measure,  that  to  love  God  and  keep  His  command- 
ments is  the  whole  duty  of  man.  Such  churchmen  and 
the  Bible,  especially  the  First  Commandment  of  the  Dec- 
alogue, and  Ninety-first  Psalm,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
and  St.  John's  Revelation,  educated  my  thought  many 
years,  yea,  all  the  way  up  to  its  preparation  for  and  recep- 
tion of  the  Science  of  Christianity.  I  believe,  if  those 
venerable  Christians  were  here  to-day,  their  sanctified 
souls  would  take  in  the  spirit  and  understanding  of  Chris- 
tian Science  through  the  flood-gates  of  Love;  with  them 
it  was  the  unseen  and  spiritual  that  determined  the  out- 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  69 

ward  action;  their  religion  was  the  great  fact  concerning 
them,  the  original  beauty  of  holiness  that  to-day  seems 
to  be  fading  so  sensibly  from  our  sight. 

To  plant  for  eternity,  the  "accuser"  or  "calumniator" 
must  not  be  admitted  to  the  vineyard  of  our  Lord,  and 
the  hand  of  love  must  sow  the  seed.  Carlyle  writes: 
"Quackery  and  dupery  do  abound  in  religion;  above  all, 
in  the  more  advanced  decaying  stages  of  religion,  they 
have  fearfully  abounded;  but  quackery  was  never  the 
originating  influence  in  such  things ;  it  was  not  the  health 
and  life  of  religion,  but  their  disease,  the  sure  precursor 
that  they  were  about  to  die." 

Christian  Scientists  first  and  last  ask  not  to  be  judged 
on  a  doctrinal  platform,  a  creed,  or  a  diploma  for  scientific 
guessing.  But  they  do  ask  to  be  allowed  the  rights  of  con- 
science and  the  protection  of  the  constitutional  laws  of 
their  land;  they  ask  to  be  known  by  their  works,  to  be 
judged  (if  at  all)  by  their  works.  We  admit  that  they  do 
not  kill  people  with  poisonous  drugs,  with  the  lance,  or 
with  liquor,  in  order  to  heal  them.  Is  it  for  not  kilHng 
them  thus,  or  is  it  for  heaUng  them  through  the  might  and 
majesty  of  divine  power  after  the  manner  taught  by  Jesus, 
and  which  he  enjoined  his  students  to  teach  and  practise, 
that  they  are  maligned?  The  richest  and  most  positive 
proof  that  a  religion  in  this  century  is  just  what  it  was  in 
the  first  centuries  is  that  the  same  reviling  it  received 
then  it  receives  now,  and  from  the  same  motives  which 
actuate  one  sect  to  persecute  another  in  advance  of  it. 

Christian  Scientists  are  harmless  citizens  that  do  not 
kill  people  either  by  their  practice  or  by  preventing  the 


70     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

early  employment  of  an  M.D.  Why  ?  Because  the  effect 
of  prayer,  whereby  Christendom  saves  sinners,  is  quite 
as  salutary  in  the  healing  of  all  manner  of  diseases.  The 
Bible  is  our  authority  for  asserting  this,  in  both  cases. 
The  interval  that  detains  the  patient  from  the  attendance 
of  an  M.D.,  occupied  in  prayer  and  in  spiritual  obedience 
to  Christ's  mode  and  means  of  healing,  cannot  be  fatal 
to  the  patient,  and  is  proven  to  be  more  pathological  than 
the  M.D.'s  material  prescription.  If  this  be  not  so,  where 
shall  we  look  for  the  standard  of  Christianity  ?  Have  we 
misread  the  evangelical  precepts  and  the  canonical  writ- 
ings of  the  Fathers,  or  must  we  have  a  new  Bible  and  a 
new  system  of  Christianity,  originating  not  in  God,  but 
a  creation  of  the  schools  —  a  material  religion,  proscrip- 
tive,  intolerant,  wantonly  bereft  of  the  Word  of  God. 

Give  us,  dear  God,  again  on  earth  the  lost  chord  of 
Christ;  solace  us  with  the  song  of  angels  rejoicing  with 
them  that  rejoice;  that  sweet  charity  which  seeketh  not 
her  own  but  another's  good,  yea,  which  hioweth  no  evil. 

Finally,  brethren,  wait  patiently  on  God ;  return  bless- 
ing for  cursing;  be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome 
evil  with  good;  be  steadfast,  abide  and  abound  in  faith, 
understanding,  and  good  works;  study  the  Bible  and  the 
textbook  of  our  denomination ;  obey  strictly  the  laws  that 
be,  and  follow  your  Leader  only  so  far  as  she  follows 
Christ.  Godliness  or  Christianity  is  a  human  necessity: 
man  cannot  live  without  it ;  he  has  no  intelligence,  health, 
hope,  nor  happiness  without  godliness.  In  the  words  of 
the  Hebrew  writers:  "Trust  in  the  Lord  with  all  thine 
heart;   and  lean  not  unto  thine  own  understanding.    In 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  71 

all  thy  ways  acknowledge  Him,  and  He  shall  direct  thy 
paths;"  "and  He  shall  bring  forth  thy  righteousness  as 
the  light,  and  thy  judgment  as  the  noonday." 

The  question  oft  presents  itself.  Are  we  willing  to  sac- 
rifice self  for  the  Cause  of  Christ,  willing  to  bare  our  bosom 
to  the  blade  and  lay  ourselves  upon  the  altar  ?  Christian 
Science  appeals  loudly  to  those  asleep  upon  the  hill-tops 
of  Zion.  It  is  a  clarion  call  to  the  reign  of  righteousness, 
to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  within  us  and  on  earth,  and 
Love  is  the  way  alway. 

O  the  Love  divine  that  plucks  us 

From  the  human  agony ! 
O  the  Master's  glory  won  thus, 

Doth  it  dawn  on  you  and  me? 

And  the  bliss  of  blotted-out  sin 

And  the  working  hitherto  — 
Shall  we  share  it  —  do  we  walk  in 

Patient  faith  the  way  thereto? 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  FIRST  CHURCH  OF 
CHRIST,  SCIENTIST 


OR 


THE  MOTHER   CHURCH 

BOSTON 

June  15,  1902 


BY 

MARY   BAKER   G.  EDDY 

PASTOR    EMERITUS    AND    AUTHOR    OF    SCIENCE    AND    HEALTH 
WITH    KEY    TO    THE    SCRIPTURES 


Forty-first    Thousand 


BOSTON,  U.S.A. 

Published  by  Allison  V.  Stewart 

Falmouth  and  St.   Paul  Streets 

1909 


Copyright,  igo2 
By  Mary  Baker  G.   Eddy 

All  rights  resernjed 


THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS,  CAMBRIDGE,   U.S.A. 


MESSAGE  FOE  1902 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  COMMANDMENT 

BELOVED  brethren,  another  year  of  God's  loving 
providence  for  His  people  in  times  of  persecution  has 
marked  the  history  of  Christian  Science.  With  no  special 
effort  to  achieve  this  result,  our  church  communicants 
constantly  increase  in  number,  unity,  steadfastness.  Two 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-four  members  have 
been  added  to  our  church  during  the  year  ending  June, 
1902,  making  total  twenty-four  thousand  two  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  members;  while  our  branch  churches  are 
multiplying  everywhere  and  blossoming  as  the  rose.  Evil, 
though  combined  in  formidable  conspiracy,  is  made  to 
glorify  God.  The  Scripture  declares,  "  The  wrath  of  man 
shall  praise  Thee;  the  remainder  of  wrath  shalt  Thou 
restrain." 

Whatever  seems  calculated  to  displace  or  discredit  the 
ordinary  systems  of  religious  beliefs  and  opinions  wrest- 
ling only  with  material  observation,  has  always  met  with 
opposition  and  detraction;  this  ought  not  so  to  be,  for 
a  system  that  honors  God  and  benefits  mankind  should 
be  welcomed  and  sustained.  While  Christian  Science, 
engaging  the  attention  of  philosopher  and  sage,  is  circling 


76     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

the  globe,  only  the  earnest,  honest  investigator  sees 
through  the  mist  of  mortal  strife  this  daystar,  and  whither 
it  guides. 

To  live  and  let  live,  without  clamor  for  distinction  or 
recognition;  to  wait  on  divine  Love;  to  write  truth  first 
on  the  tablet  of  one's  own  heart,  —  this  is  the  sanity  and 
perfection  of  living,  and  my  human  ideal.  The  Science 
of  man  and  the  universe,  in  contradistinction  to  all  error, 
is  on  the  way,  and  Truth  makes  haste  to  meet  and  to  wel- 
come it.  It  is  purifying  all  peoples,  reUgions,  ethics,  and 
learning,  and  making  the  children  our  teachers. 

Within  the  last  decade  rehgion  in  the  United  States  has 
passed  from  stem  Protestantism  to  doubtful  liberalism. 
God  speed  the  right !  The  wise  builders  will  build  on  the 
stone  at  the  head  of  the  corner ;  and  so  Christian  Science, 
the  little  leaven  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  —  ethics, 
medicine,  and  religion,  —  is  rapidly  fermenting,  and  en- 
lightening the  world  with  the  glory  of  untrammelled  truth. 
The  present  modifications  in  ecclesiasticism  are  an  out- 
come of  progress ;  dogmatism,  relegated  to  the  past,  gives 
place  to  a  more  spiritual  manifestation,  wherein  Christ 
is  Alpha  and  Omega.  It  was  an  inherent  characteristic 
of  my  nature,  a  kind  of  birthmark,  to  love  the  Church; 
and  the  Church  once  loved  me.  Then  why  not  remain 
friends,  or  at  least  agree  to  disagree,  in  love,  —  part  fair 
foes.  I  never  left  the  Church,  either  in  heart  or  in  doc- 
trine; I  but  began  where  the  Church  left  off.  When  the 
churches  and  I  round  the  gospel  of  grace,  in  the  circle  of 
love,  we  shall  meet  again,  never  to  part.  I  have  always 
taught  the  student  to  overcome  evil  with  good,  used  no 


MESSAGE  FOR  1902  77 

other  means  myself;  and  ten  thousand  loyal  Christian 
Scientists  to  one  disloyal,  bear  testimony  to  this  fact. 

The  loosening  cords  of  non-Christian  religions  in  the 
Orient  are  apparent.  It  is  cause  for  joy  that  among  the 
educated  classes  Buddhism  and  Shintoism  are  said  to 
be  regarded  now  more  as  a  philosophy  than  as  a  religion. 

I  rejoice  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  put 
an  end,  at  Charleston,  to  any  hngering  sense  of  the  North's 
half-hostility  to  the  South,  thus  reinstating  the  old  national 
family  pride  and  joy  in  the  sisterhood  of  States. 

Our  nation's  forward  step  was  the  inauguration  of 
home  rule  in  Cuba,  —  our  military  forces  withdrawing, 
and  leaving  her  in  the  enjoyment  of  self-government  under 
improved  laws.  It  is  well  that  our  government,  in  its  brief 
occupation  of  that  pearl  of  the  ocean,  has  so  improved  her 
public  school  system  that  her  dusky  children  are  learning 
to  read  and  write. 

The  world  rejoices  with  our  sister  nation  over  the  close 
of  the  conflict  in  South  Africa ;  now,  British  and  Boer  may 
prosper  in  peace,  wiser  at  the  close  than  the  beginning  of 
war.  The  dazzling  diadem  of  royalty  will  sit  easier  on  the 
brow  of  good  King  Edward,  —  the  muffled  fear  of  death 
and  triumph  canker  not  his  coronation,  and  woman's 
thoughts  —  the  joy  of  the  sainted  Queen,  and  the  lay  of 
angels  —  hallow  the  ring  of  state. 

It  does  not  follow  that  power  must  mature  into  oppres- 
sion ;  indeed,  right  is  the  only  real  potency ;  and  the  only 
true  ambition  is  to  serve  God  and  to  help  the  race.  Envy 
is  the  atmosphere  of  hell.  According  to  Holy  Writ,  the 
first  lie  and  leap  into  perdition  began  with  "  Believe  in 


78    MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

me."  Competition  in  commerce,  deceit  in  councils,  dis- 
honor in  nations,  dishonesty  in  trusts,  begin  with  "  Who 
shall  be  greatest  ?  "  I  again  repeat.  Follow  your  Leader, 
only  so  far  as  she  follows  Christ. 

I  cordially  congratulate  our  Board  of  Lectureship,  and 
Publication  Committee,  on  their  adequacy  and  correct 
analysis  of  Christian  Science.  Let  us  all  pray  at  this 
Communion  season  for  more  grace,  a  more  fulfilled  life 
and  spiritual  understanding,  bringing  music  to  the  ear, 
rapture  to  the  heart  —  a  fathomless  peace  between 
Soul  and  sense  —  and  that  our  works  be  as  worthy  as 
our  words. 

My  subject  to-day  embraces  the  First  Commandment 
in  the  Hebrew  Decalogue,  and  the  new  commandment  in 
the  gospel  of  peace,  both  ringing  like  soft  vesper  chimes 
adown  the  corridors  of  time,  and  echoing  and  reechoing 
through  the  measureless  rounds  of  eternity. 

God  as  Love 

The  First  Commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
gods  before  me,"  is  a  law  never  to  be  abrogated  —  a  divine 
statute  for  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever.  I  shall 
briefly  consider  these  two  commandments  in  a  few  of  their 
infinite  meanings,  applicable  to  all  periods  —  past,  present, 
and  future. 

Alternately  transported  and  alarmed  by  abstruse 
problems  of  Scripture,  we  are  liable  to  turn  from  them  as 
impractical,  or  beyond  the  ken  of  mortals,  —  and  past 
finding  out.     Our  thoughts  of  the  Bible  utter  our  lives. 


MESSAGE  FOR  1902  79 

As  silent  night  foretells  the  dawn  and  din  of  morn ;  as  the 
dulness  of  to-day  prophesies  renewed  energy  for  to-morrow, 
—  so  the  pagan  philosophies  and  tribal  religions  of  yester- 
day but  foreshadowed  the  spiritual  dawn  of  the  twentieth 
century  —  religion  parting  with  its  materiality. 

Christian  Science  stills  all  distress  over  doubtful  inter- 
pretations of  the  Bible;  it  lights  the  fires  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  floods  the  world  with  the  baptism  of  Jesus. 
It  is  this  ethereal  flame,  this  almost  unconceived  light  of 
divine  Love,  that  heaven  husbands  in  the  First  Com- 
mandment. 

For  man  to  be  thoroughly  subordinated  to  this  com- 
mandment, God  must  be  intelligently  considered  and 
understood.  The  ever-recurring  human  question  and 
wonder.  What  is  God?  can  never  be  answered  satisfac- 
torily by  human  hypotheses  or  philosophy.  Divine  meta- 
physics and  St.  John  have  answered  this  great  question 
forever  in  these  words:  "God  is  Love."  This  absolute 
definition  of  Deity  is  the  theme  for  time  and  for  eternity; 
it  is  iterated  in  the  law  of  God,  reiterated  in  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  voiced  in  the  thunder  of  Sinai,  and  breathed  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Hence  our  Master's  saying, 
"Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law,  or  the 
prophets :  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil." 

Since  God  is  Love,  and  infinite,  why  should  mortals 
conceive  of  a  law,  propound  a  question,  formulate  a  doc- 
trine, or  speculate  on  the  existence  of  anything  which  is 
an  antipode  of  infinite  Love  and  the  manifestation  thereof  ? 
The  sacred  command,  "Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods 
before  me,"  silences  all  questions  on  this  subject,  and  for- 


80     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

ever  forbids  the  thought  of  any  other  reality,  since  it  is  im- 
possible to  have  aught  unUke  the  infinite. 

The  knowledge  of  life,  substance,  or  law,  apart  or  other 
than  God  —  good  —  is  forbidden.  The  curse  of  Love 
and  Truth  was  pronounced  upon  a  lie,  upon  false  knowl- 
edge, the  fruits  of  the  flesh  not  Spirit.  Since  knowledge 
of  evil,  of  something  besides  God,  good,  brought  death 
into  the  world  on  the  basis  of  a  he.  Love  and  Truth  de- 
stroy this  knowledge,  —  and  Christ,  Truth,  demonstrated 
and  continues  to  demonstrate  this  grand  verity,  saving 
the  sinner  and  heahng  the  sick.  Jesus  said  a  lie  fathers 
itself,  thereby  showing  that  God  made  neither  evil  nor  its 
consequences.  Here  all  human  woe  is  seen  to  obtain  in 
a  false  claim,  an  untrue  consciousness,  an  impossible 
creation,  yea,  something  that  is  not  of  God.  The  Chris- 
tianization  of  mortals,  whereby  the  mortal  concept  and 
all  it  includes  is  obliterated,  lets  in  the  divine  sense  of 
being,  fulfils  the  law  in  righteousness,  and  consummates 
the  First  Commandment,  "Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods 
before  me."  All  Christian  faith,  hope,  and  prayer,  all 
devout  desire,  virtually  petition,  Make  me  the  image  and 
likeness  of  divine  Love. 

Through  Christ,  Truth,  divine  metaphysics  points  the 
way,  demonstrates  heaven  here,  —  the  struggle  over,  and 
victory  on  the  side  of  Truth.  In  the  degree  that  man  be- 
comes spiritually  minded  he  becomes  Godlike.  St.  Paul 
writes:  "For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death;  but  to  be 
spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace."  Divine  Science 
fulfils  the  law  and  the  gospel,  wherein  God  is  infinite  Love, 
including   nothing   unlovely,    producing   nothing   unlike 


MESSAGE  FOR  1902  81 

Himself,  the  true  nature  of  Love  intact  and  eternal.  Divine 
metaphysics  concedes  no  origin  or  causation  apart  from 
God.  It  accords  all  to  God,  Spirit,  and  His  infinite  mani- 
festations of  love  —  man  and  the  universe. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  matter,  sin,  disease,  and 
death  enter  not  into  the  category  of  creation  or  conscious- 
ness. Minus  this  spiritual  understanding  of  Scripture,  of 
God  and  His  creation,  neither  philosophy,  nature,  nor 
grace  can  give  man  the  true  idea  of  God  —  divine  Love  — 
sufficiently  to  fulfil  the  First  Commandment. 

The  Latin  omni,  which  signifies  all,  used  as  an  English 
prefix  to  the  words  potence,  presence,  science,  signifies  all- 
power,  all-presence,  all-science.  Use  these  words  to  define 
God,  and  nothing  is  left  to  consciousness  but  Love,  without 
beginning  and  without  end,  even  the  forever  /  am,  and 
All,  than  which  there  is  naught  else.  Thus  we  have 
Scriptural  authority  for  divine  metaphysics  —  spiritual 
man  and  the  universe  coexistent  with  God.  No  other 
logical  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  the  premises, 
and  no  other  scientific  proposition  can  be  Christianly 
entertained. 

Love  One  Another 

Here  we  proceed  to  another  Scriptural  passage  which 
serves  to  confirm  Christian  Science.  Christ  Jesus  saith, 
"A  new  commandment  I  give  unto  you.  That  ye  love  one 
another;  as  I  have  loved  you."  It  is  obvious  that  he 
called  his  disciples'  special  attention  to  his  new  command- 
ment.     And    wherefore?      Because    it    emphasizes    the 


82      MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

apostle's  declaration,  "  God  is  Love,"  —  it  elucidates 
Christianity,  illustrates  God,  and  man  as  His  likeness,  and 
commands  man  to  love  as  Jesus  loved. 

The  law  and  the  gospel  concur,  and  both  will  be  ful- 
filled. Is  it  necessary  to  say  that  the  likeness  of  God,  Spirit, 
is  spiritual,  and  the  likeness  of  Love  is  loving?  When 
loving,  we  learn  that  "God  is  Love;"  mortals  hating,  or 
unloving,  are  neither  Christians  nor  Scientists.  The  new 
commandment  of  Christ  Jesus  shows  what  true  spirituality 
is,  and  its  harmonious  effects  on  the  sick  and  the  sinner. 
No  person  can  heal  or  reform  mankind  unless  he  is  actuated 
by  love  and  good  will  towards  men.  The  coincidence  be- 
tween the  law  and  the  gospel,  between  the  old  and  the  new 
commandment,  confirms  the  fact  that  God  and  Love  are 
one.  The  spiritually  minded  are  inspired  with  tenderness, 
Truth,  and  Love.  The  life  of  Christ  Jesus,  his  words  and 
his  deeds,  demonstrate  Love.  We  have  no  evidence  of 
being  Christian  Scientists  except  we  possess  this  inspira- 
tion, and  its  power  to  heal  and  to  save.  The  energy  that 
saves  sinners  and  heals  the  sick  is  divine :  and  Love  is  the 
Principle  thereof.  Scientific  Christianity  works  out  the 
rule  of  spiritual  love ;  it  makes  man  active^  it  prompts  per- 
petual goodness,  for  the  ego,  or  I,  goes  to  the  Father, 
whereby  man  is  Godlike.  Love,  purity,  meekness,  co- 
exist in  divine  Science.  Lust,  hatred,  revenge,  coincide  in 
material  sense.  Christ  Jesus  reckoned  man  in  Science, 
having  the  kingdom  of  heaven  within  him.  He  spake  of 
man  not  as  the  offspring  of  Adam,  a  departure  from  God, 
or  His  lost  likeness,  but  as  God's  child.  Spiritual  love 
makes  man  conscious  that  God  is  his  Father,  and  the  con- 


MESSAGE  FOR  1902  83 

sciousness  of  God  as  Love  gives  man  power  with  untold 
furtherance.  Then  God  becomes  to  him  the  All-presence 
—  quenching  sin;  the  All-power  —  giving  life,  health, 
hoHness;  the  All-science  —  all  law  and  gospel. 

Jesus  commanded,  ** Follow  me;  and  let  the  dead  bury 
their  dead;"  in  other  words,  Let  the  world,  popularity, 
pride,  and  ease  concern  you  less,  and  love  thou.  When 
the  full  significance  of  this  saying  is  understood,  we  shall 
have  better  practitioners,  and  Truth  will  arise  in  human 
thought  with  healing  in  its  wings,  regenerating  mankind 
and  fulfilling  the  apostle*s  saying:  **For  the  law  of  the 
Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death."  Loving  chords  set  discords  in  har- 
mony. Every  condition  implied  by  the  great  Master, 
every  promise  fulfilled,  was  loving  and  spiritual,  urging 
a  state  of  consciousness  that  leaves  the  minor  tones  of  so- 
called  material  life  and  abides  in  Christlikeness. 

The  unity  of  God  and  man  is  not  the  dream  of  a  heated 
brain ;  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  healing  Christ,  that  dwelt  for- 
ever in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  and  should  abide  forever 
in  man.  When  first  I  heard  the  life-giving  sound  thereof, 
and  knew  not  whence  it  came  nor  whither  it  tended,  it 
was  the  proof  of  its  divine  origin,  and  healing  power,  that 
opened  my  closed  eyes. 

Did  the  age*s  thinkers  laugh  long  over  Morse's  dis- 
covery of  telegraphy?  Did  they  quarrel  long  with  the 
inventor  of  a  steam  engine?  Is  it  cause  for  bitter  com- 
ment and  personal  abuse  that  an  individual  has  met  the 
need  of  mankind  with  some  new-old  truth  that  counteracts 
ignorance  and  superstition?     Whatever  enlarges  man's 


84      MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

facilities  for  knowing  and  doing  good,  and  subjugates 
matter,  has  a  fight  with  the  flesh.  Utilizing  the  capacities 
of  the  human  mind  uncovers  new  ideas,  unfolds  spiritual 
forces,  the  divine  energies,  and  their  power  over  matter, 
molecule,  space,  time,  mortality;  and  mortals  cry  out, 
"Art  thou  come  hither  to  torment  us  before  the  time?" 
then  dispute  the  facts,  call  them  false  or  in  advance  of  the 
time,  and  reiterate,  Let  me  alone.  Hence  the  foot- 
prints of  a  reformer  are  stained  with  blood.  Rev.  Hugh 
Black  writes  truly:  "The  birthplace  of  civilization  is  not 
Athens,  but  Calvary." 

When  the  human  mind  is  advancing  above  itself  towards 
the  Divine,  it  is  subjugating  the  body,  subduing  matter, 
taking  steps  outward  and  upwards.  This  upward  ten- 
dency of  humanity  will  finally  gain  the  scope  of  Jacob's 
vision,  and  rise  from  sense  to  Soul,  from  earth  to  heaven. 

Religions  in  general  admit  that  man  becomes  finally 
spiritual.  If  such  is  man's  ultimate,  his  predicate  tending 
thereto  is  correct,  and  inevitably  spiritual.  Wherefore, 
then,  smite  the  reformer  who  finds  the  more  spiritual  way, 
shortens  the  distance,  discharges  burdensome  baggage, 
and  increases  the  speed  of  mortals'  transit  from  matter 
to  Spirit  —  yea,  from  sin  to  holiness  ?  This  is  indeed  our 
sole  proof  that  Christ,  Truth,  is  the  way.  The  old  and 
recurring  martyrdom  of  God's  best  witnesses  is  the  in- 
firmity of  evil,  the  modus  operandi  of  human  error, 
carnality,  opposition  to  God  and  His  power  in  man. 
Persecuting  a  reformer  is  like  sentencing  a  man  for  com- 
municating with  foreign  nations  in  other  ways  than  by 
walking  every  step  over  the  land  route,  and  swimming  the 


MESSAGE  FOR  1902  85 

ocean  with  a  letter  in  his  hand  to  leave  on  a  foreign  shore. 
Our  heavenly  Father  never  destined  mortals  who  seek 
for  a  better  country  to  wander  on  the  shores  of  time  dis- 
appointed travellers,  tossed  to  and  fro  by  adverse  circum- 
stances, inevitably  subject  to  sin,  disease,  and  death. 
Divine  Love  waits  and  pleads  to  save  mankind  —  and 
awaits  with  warrant  and  welcome,  grace  and  glory,  the 
earth-weary  and  heavy-laden  who  find  and  point  the  path 
to  heaven. 

Envy  or  abuse  of  him  who,  having  a  new  idea  or  a  more 
spiritual  understanding  of  God,  hastens  to  help  on  his 
fellow-mortals,  is  neither  Christian  nor  Science.  If  a 
postal  service,  a  steam  engine,  a  submarine  cable,  a  wire- 
less telegraph,  each  in  turn  has  helped  mankind,  how 
much  more  is  accomplished  when  the  race  is  helped  on- 
ward by  a  new-old  message  from  God,  even  the  knowl- 
edge of  salvation  from  sin,  disease,  and  death. 

The  world's  wickedness  gave  our  glorified  Master  a 
bitter  cup  —  which  he  drank,  giving  thanks,  then  gave 
it  to  his  followers  to  drink.  Therefore  it  is  thine,  advanc- 
ing Christian,  and  this  is  thy  Lord's  benediction  upon 
it:  "Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  per- 
secute you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you 
falsely,  for  my  sake.  Rejoice,  and  be  exceeding  glad: 
for  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven :  for  so  persecuted  they 
the  prophets  which  were  before  you." 

Of  old  he  Jews  put  to  death  the  Galilean  Prophet,  the 
best  Christian  on  earth,  for  the  truths  he  said  and  did: 
while  to-day  Jew  and  Christian  can  unite  in  doctrine  and  in 
practice  on  the  very  basis  of  his  words  and  works.    The  Jew 


86     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

believes  that  the  Messiah  or  the  Christ  has  not  yet  come ; 
the  Christian  beheves  that  Christ  is  come  and  is  God. 
Here  Christian  Science  intervenes,  explains  these  doctrinal 
points,  cancels  the  disagreement,  and  settles  the  whole  ques- 
tion on  the  basis  that  Christ  is  the  Messiah,  the  true  spir- 
itual idea,  and  this  ideal  of  God  is  7iow  and  forever,  here  and 
everywhere.  The  Jew  who  believes  in  the  First  Command- 
ment is  a  monotheist,  he  has  one  omnipresent  God :  thus 
the  Jew  unites  with  the  Christian  idea  that  God  is  come, 
and  is  ever  present.  The  Christian  who  beheves  in  the 
First  Commandment  is  a  monotheist:  thus  he  virtually 
unites  with  the  Jew's  belief  in  one  God,  and  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  God,  as  he  himself  declared,  but  is  the  Son  of 
God.  This  declaration  of  Christ,  understood,  conflicts  not 
at  all  with  another  of  his  sayings :  "  I  and  my  Father  are 
one,"  —  that  is,  one  in  quahty,  not  in  quantity.  As  a  drop 
of  water  is  one  with  the  ocean,  a  ray  of  light  one  with  the 
sun,  even  so  God  and  man,  Father  and  son,  are  one  in 
being.  The  Scripture  reads :  "  For  in  Him  we  live,  and 
move,  and  have  our  being." 

Here  allow  me  to  interpolate  some  matters  of  business 
that  ordinarily  find  no  place  in  my  Message.  It  is  a  privi- 
lege to  acquaint  communicants  with  the  financial  transac- 
tions of  this  church,  so  far  as  I  know  them,  and  especially 
before  making  another  united  effort  to  purchase  more  land 
and  enlarge  our  church  edifice  so  as  to  seat  the  large  number 
who  annually  favor  us  with  their  presence  on  Communion 
Sunday. 

When  founding  the  institutions  and  early  movements  of 
the  Cause  of  Christian  Science,  I  furnished  the  money  from 


MESSAGE  FOR  1902  87 

my  own  private  earnings  to  meet  the  expenses  involved. 
In  this  endeavor  self  was  forgotten,  peace  sacrificed,  Christ 
and  our  Cause  my  only  incentives,  and  each  success  in- 
curred a  sharper  fire  from  enmity. 

During  the  last  seven  years  I  have  transferred  to  The 
Mother  Church,  of  my  personal  property  and  funds,  to  the 
value  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars ; 
and  the  net  profits  from  the  business  of  The  Christian  Sci- 
ence Publishing  Society  (which  was  a  part  of  this  transfer) 
yield  this  church  a  liberal  income.  I  receive  no  personal 
benefit  therefrom  except  the  privilege  of  publishing  my 
books  in  their  publishing  house,  and  desire  none  other. 

The  land  on  which  to  build  The  First  Church  of  Christ, 
Scientist,  in  Boston,  had  been  negotiated  for,  and  about  one 
half  the  price  paid,  when  a  loss  of  funds  occurred,  and  I 
came  to  the  rescue,  purchased  the  mortgage  on  the  lot 
corner  of  Fahnouth  and  Caledonia  (now  Norway)  Streets ; 
paying  for  it  the  sum  of  $4,963.50  and  interest,  through  my 
legal  counsel.  After  the  mortgage  had  expired  and  the  note 
therewith  became  due,  legal  proceedings  were  instituted  by 
my  counsel  advertising  the  property  in  the  Boston  news- 
papers, and  giving  opportunity  for  those  who  had  previously 
negotiated  for  the  property  to  redeem  the  land  by  paying 
the  amount  due  on  the  mortgage.  But  no  one  offering 
the  price  I  had  paid  for  it,  nor  to  take  the  property  off  my 
hands,  the  mortgage  was  foreclosed,  and  the  land  legally 
conveyed  to  me,  by  my  counsel.  This  land,  now  valued  at 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  I  afterwards  gave  to  my  church 
through  trustees,  who  were  to  be  known  as  "  The  Christian 
Science  Board  of  Directors."    A  copy  of  this  deed  is  pub- 


88    MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

lished  in  our  Church  Manual.  About  five  thousand  dollars 
had  been  paid  on  the  land  when  I  redeemed  it.  The  only 
interest  I  retain  in  this  property  is  to  save  it  for  my  church. 
I  can  neither  rent,  mortgage,  nor  sell  this  church  edifice  nor 
the  land  whereon  it  stands. 

I  suggest  as  a  motto  for  every  Christian  Scientist,  —  a 
living  and  life-giving  spiritual  shield  against  the  powers  of 
darkness,  — 

**  Great  not  like  Csesar,  stained  with  blood, 
But  only  great  as  I  am  good. " 

The  only  genuine  success  possible  for  any  Christian  —  and 
the  only  success  I  have  ever  achieved  —  has  been  accom- 
plished on  this  solid  basis.  The  remarkable  growth  and 
prosperity  of  Christian  Science  are  its  legitimate  fruit.  A 
successful  end  could  never  have  been  compassed  on  any 
other  foundation,  —  with  truths  so  counter  to  the  common 
convictions  of  mankind  to  present  to  the  world.  From  the 
beginning  of  the  great  battle  every  forward  step  has  been 
met  (not  by  mankind,  but  by  a  kind  of  men)  with  mockery, 
envy,  rivalry,  and  falsehood  — as  achievement  after  achieve- 
ment has  been  blazoned  on  the  forefront  of  the  world  and 
recorded  in  heaven.  The  popular  philosophies  and  reli- 
gions have  afforded  me  neither  favor  nor  protection  in  the 
great  struggle.  Therefore,  I  ask :  What  has  shielded  and 
prospered  preeminently  our  great  Cause,  but  the  out- 
stretched arm  of  infinite  Love?  This  pregnant  question, 
answered  frankly  and  honestly,  should  forever  silence  all 
private  criticisms,  all  unjust  public  aspersions,  and  afford 
an  open  field  and  fair  play. 


MESSAGE  FOR  1902  89 

In  the  eighties,  anonymous  letters  mailed  to  me  con- 
tained threats  to  blow  up  the  hall  where  I  preached ;  yet  I 
never  lost  my  faith  in  God,  and  neither  informed  the  police 
of  these  letters  nor  sought  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  my 
country.    I  leaned  on  God,  and  was  safe. 

Healing  all  manner  of  diseases  without  charge,  keeping 
a  free  institute,  rooming  and  boarding  indigent  students 
that  I  taught  "without  money  and  without  price,"  I  strug- 
gled on  through  many  years ;  and  while  dependent  on  the 
income  from  the  sale  of  Science  and  Health,  my  publisher 
paid  me  not  one  dollar  of  royalty  on  its  first  edition.  Those 
were  days  wherein  the  connection  between  justice  and  be- 
ing approached  the  mythical.  Before  entering  upon  my 
great  life-work,  my  income  from  literary  sources  was  ample, 
until,  declining  dictation  as  to  what  I  should  write,  I  became 
poor  for  Christ's  sake.  My  husband.  Colonel  Glover,  of 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  was  considered  wealthy,  but 
much  of  his  property  was  in  slaves,  and  I  declined  to  sell 
them  at  his  decease  in  1844,  for  I  could  never  believe  that  a 
human  being  was  my  property. 

Six  weeks  I  waited  on  God  to  suggest  a  name  for  the  book 
I  had  been  writing.  Its  title,  Science  and  Health,  came  to 
me  in  the  silence  of  night,  when  the  steadfast  stars  watched 
over  the  world,  —  when  slumber  had  fled,  —  and  I  rose 
and  recorded  the  hallowed  suggestion.  The  following  day 
I  showed  it  to  my  literary  friends,  who  advised  me  to  drop 
both  the  book  and  the  title.  To  this,  however,  I  gave  no 
heed,  feeling  sure  that  God  had  led  me  to  write  that  book, 
and  had  whispered  that  name  to  my  waiting  hope  and 
prayer.    It  was  to  me  the  "still,  small  voice"  that  came  to 


90     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

Elijah  after  the  earthquake  and  the  fire.  Six  months  there- 
after Miss  Dorcas  Rawson  of  Lynn  brought  to  me  Wyclif 's 
translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  pointed  out  that 
identical  phrase,  "Science  and  Health,"  which  is  rendered 
in  the  Authorized  Version  "knowledge  of  salvation." 
This  was  my  first  inkling  of  Wyclifs  use  of  that  combina- 
tion of  words,  or  of  their  rendering.  To-day  I  am  the  happy 
possessor  of  a  copy  of  Wyclif,  the  invaluable  gift  of  two 
Christian  Scientists,  —  Mr.  W.  Nicholas  Miller,  K.C.,  and 
Mrs.  F.  L.  Miller,  of  London,  England. 


GODLIKENESS 

St.  Paul  writes :  "  Follow  peace  with  all  men,  and  holi- 
ness, without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord."  To  attain 
peace  and  holiness  is  to  recognize  the  divine  presence  and 
allness.  Jesus  said:  "lam  the  way."  Kindle  the  watch- 
fires  of  unselfed  love,  and  they  throw  a  light  upon  the  un- 
complaining agony  in  the  life  of  our  Lord;  they  open  the 
enigmatical  seals  of  the  angel,  standing  in  the  sun,  a  glori- 
fied spiritual  idea  of  the  ever-present  God  —  in  whom  there 
is  no  darkness,  but  all  is  light,  and  man's  immortal  being. 
The  meek  might,  sublime  patience,  wonderful  works,  and 
opening  not  his  mouth  in  self-defense  against  false  wit- 
nesses, express  the  life  of  Godlikeness.  Fasting,  feasting, 
or  penance,  —  merely  outside  forms  of  religion,  —  fail  to 
elucidate  Christianity :  they  reach  not  the  heart  nor  reno- 
vate it;  they  never  destroy  one  iota  of  hypocrisy,  pride, 
self-will,  envy,  or  hate.     The  mere  form  of  godliness, 


MESSAGE  FOR  1902  91 

coupled  with  selfishness,  worldliness,  hatred,  and  lust,  are 
knells  tolling  the  burial  of  Christ. 

Jesus  said,  "If  ye  love  me,  keep  my  commandments." 
He  knew  that  obedience  is  the  test  of  love ;  that  one  gladly 
obeys  when  obedience  gives  him  happiness.  Selfishly,  or 
otherwise,  all  are  ready  to  seek  and  obey  what  they  love. 
When  mortals  learn  to  love  aright;  when  they  learn  that 
man's  highest  happiness,  that  which  has  most  of  heaven  in 
it,  is  in  blessing  others,  and  self-immolation  —  they  will 
obey  both  the  old  and  the  new  commandment,  and  receive 
the  reward  of  obedience. 

Many  sleep  who  should  keep  themselves  awake  and 
waken  the  world.  Earth's  actors  change  earth's  scenes; 
and  the  curtain  of  human  life  should  be  lifted  on  reality,  on 
that  which  outweighs  time ;  on  duty  done  and  life  perfected, 
wherein  joy  is  real  and  fadeless.  Who  of  the  world's  lovers 
ever  found  her  true  ?  It  is  wise  to  be  willing  to  wait  on  God, 
and  to  be  wiser  than  serpents ;  to  hate  no  man,  to  love  one's 
enemies,  and  to  square  accounts  with  each  passing  hour. 
Then  thy  gain  outlives  the  sun,  for  the  sun  shines  but  to 
show  man  the  beauty  of  holiness  and  the  wealth  of  love. 
Happiness  consists  in  being  and  in  doing  good ;  only  what 
God  gives,  and  what  we  give  ourselves  and  others  through 
His  tenure,  confers  happiness:  conscious  worth  satisfies 
the  hungry  heart,  and  nothing  else  can.  Consult  thy  every- 
day life;  take  its  answer  as  to  thy  aims,  motives,  fondest 
purposes,  and  this  oracle  of  years  will  put  to  flight  all  care 
for  the  world's  soft  flattery  or  its  frown.  Patience  and  res- 
ignation are  the  pillars  of  peace  that,  like  the  sun  beneath 
the  horizon,  cheer  the  heart  susceptible  of  light  with  prom- 


92     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

ised  joy.  Be  faithful  at  the  temple  gate  of  conscience, 
wakefully  guard  it;  then  thou  wilt  know  when  the  thief 
Cometh. 

The  constant  spectacle  of  sin  thrust  upon  the  pure  sense 
of  the  immaculate  Jesus  made  him  a  man  of  sorrows.    He 
lived  when  mortals  looked  ignorantly,  as  now,  on  the  might 
of  divine  power  manifested  through  man;   only  to  mock, 
wonder,  and  perish.    Sad  to  say,  the  cowardice  and  self- 
seeking  of  his  disciples  helped  crown  with  thorns  the  life  of 
him  who  broke  not  the  bruised  reed  and  quenched  not  the 
smoking  flax,  —  who  caused  not  the  feeble  to  fall,  nor 
spared  through  false  pity  the  consuming  tares.    Jesus  was 
compassionate,  true,  faithful  to  rebuke,  ready  to  forgive. 
He  said,  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the 
least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 
"Love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you."    No  estrange- 
ment, no  emulation,  no  deceit,  enters  into  the  heart  that 
loves  as  Jesus  loved.    It  is  a  false  sense  of  love  that,  like 
the  summer  brook,  soon  gets  dry.    Jesus  laid  down  his  life 
for  mankind ;  what  more  could  he  do  ?   Beloved,  how  much 
of  what  he  did  are  we  doing?    Yet  he  said,  "The  works 
that  I  do  shall  he  do."    When  this  prophecy  of  the  great 
Teacher  is  fulfilled  we  shall  have  more  effective  healers  and 
less  theorizing;    faith  without  proof  loses  its  life,  and  it 
should  be  buried.     The  ignoble  conduct  of  his  disciples 
towards  their  Master,  showing  their  unfitness  to  follow 
him,  ended  in  the  downfall  of  genuine  Christianity,  about 
the  year  325,  and  the  violent  death  of  all  his  disciples  save 
one. 
The  nature  of  Jesus  made  him  keenly  alive  to  the 


MESSAGE  FOR  1902  93 

injustice,  ingratitude,  treachery,  and  brutality  that  he 
received.  Yet  behold  his  love  I  So  soon  as  he  burst  the 
bonds  of  the  tomb  he  hastened  to  console  his  unfaithful 
followers  and  to  disarm  their  fears.  Again:  True  to  his 
divine  nature,  he  rebuked  them  on  the  eve  of  his  ascension, 
called  one  a  "fool"  —  then,  hfting  up  his  hands  and  bless- 
ing them,  he  rose  from  earth  to  heaven. 

The  Christian  Scientist  cherishes  no  resentment;  he 
knows  that  that  would  harm  him  more  than  all  the  mahce 
of  his  foes.  Brethren,  even  as  Jesus  forgave,  forgive  thou. 
I  say  it  with  joy,  —  no  person  can  commit  an  offense 
against  me  that  I  cannot  forgive.  Meekness  is  the  armor 
of  a  Christian,  his  shield  and  his  buckler.  He  entertains 
angels  who  Hstens  to  the  lispings  of  repentance  seen  in  a 
tear  —  happier  than  the  conqueror  of  a  world.  To  the 
burdened  and  weary,  Jesus  saith:  "Come  unto  me." 
O  glorious  hope  I  there  remaineth  a  rest  for  the  righteous, 
a  rest  in  Christ,  a  peace  in  Love.  The  thought  of  it  stills 
complaint;  the  heaving  surf  of  life's  troubled  sea  foams 
itself  away,  and  underneath  is  a  deep-settled  calm. 

Are  earth's  pleasures,  its  ties  and  its  treasures,  taken 
away  from  you?  It  is  divine  Love  that  doeth  it,  and 
sayeth,  "Ye  have  need  of  all  these  things."  A  danger 
besets  thy  path  ?  —  a  spiritual  behest,  in  reversion,  awaits 
you. 

The  great  Master  triumphed  in  furnace  fires.  Then, 
Christian  Scientists,  trust,  and  trusting,  you  will  find  divine 
Science  glorifies  the  cross  and  crowns  the  association  with 
our  Saviour  in  his  life  of  love.  There  is  no  redundant 
drop  in  the  cup  that  our  Father  permits  us.     Christ 


94     MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

walketh  over  the  wave ;  on  the  ocean  of  events,  mounting 
the  billow  or  going  down  into  the  deep,  the  voice  of  him 
who  stilled  the  tempest  saith,  "It  is  I;  be  not  afraid." 
Thus  he  bringeth  us  into  the  desired  haven,  the  kingdom 
of  Spirit;  and  the  hues  of  heaven,  tipping  the  dawn  of 
everlasting  day,  joyfully  whisper,  **No  drunkards  within, 
no  sorrow,  no  pain ;  and  the  glory  of  earth's  woes  is  risen 
upon  you,  rewarding,  satisfying,  glorifying  thy  unfaltering 
faith  and  good  works  with  the  fulness  of  divine  Love." 

'T  was  God  who  gave  that  word  of  might 

Which  swelled  creation's  lay,  — 
f'Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light,"  — 

That  swept  the  clouds  away; 
'T  was  Love  whose  finger  traced  aloud 

A  bow  of  promise  on  the  cloud. 

Beloved  brethren,  are  you  ready  to  join  me  in  this  prop- 
osition, namely,  in  1902  to  begin  omitting  our  annual 
gathering  at  Pleasant  View,  —  thus  breaking  any  seeming 
connection  between  the  sacrament  in  our  church  and  a 
pilgrimage  to  Concord  ?  I  shall  be  the  loser  by  this  change, 
for  it  gives  me  great  joy  to  look  into  the  faces  of  my  dear 
church-members;  but  in  this,  as  all  else,  I  can  bear  the 
cross,  while  gratefully  appreciating  the  privilege  of  meet- 
ing you  all  occasionally  in  the  metropolis  of  my  native 
State,  whose  good  people  welcome  Christian  Scientists. 


The  UnivQtstty  Press,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A. 

UNIV 


WORKS  ON  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

WRITTEN   BY   MARY   BAKER   G.    EDDY 

SCIENCE  AND  HEALTH  WITH  KEY  TO  THE 
SCRIPTURES 

In  One  Volume,  700  pp.  Containing  many  important  changes 
and  additions  by  the  author.  The  Original,  Standard,  and  only 
Textbook  on  Christian  Science  Mind-healing.  This  edition 
contains  a  fine  photogravure  portrait  of  Mrs.  Eddy,  together 
with  a  facsimile  of  her  signature.  Price  (cloth),  single  copy, 
$3.18;  two  to  twelve  books  (cloth  only)  to  one  address,  each, 
$3.00 ;  twelve  or  more  books  to  one  address,  each,  $2.75.  Full 
leather,  stiff  beveled  boards,  gilt  edges,  same  paper  as  in  cloth 
binding,  single  copy,  $4.00 ;  twelve  or  more  to  one  address,  each, 
$3.73.  Morocco,  limp,  round  corners,  gilt  edges,  Oxford  India 
Bible  paper,  convenient  for  pocket,  single  copy,  $5.00 ;  twelve 
or  more  to  one  address,  each  $4.75.  Levant,  divinity  circuit, 
leather-lined  to  edge,  round  corners,  gilt  edges,  silk  sewed, 
heavy  Oxford  India  Bible  paper,  single  copy,  $6.00 ;  twelve  or 
more  to  one  address,  each,  $5.75.  Orders  for  Science  and 
Health  in  lots  of  twelve  or  more  to  one  address  may  include  any 
or  all  of  the  different  styles  of  binding.  The  above  prices  are 
all  prepaid. 

MISCELLANEOUS    WRITINGS  — 1883-1896 

Abook  of  471  pages,  containing  articles  published  in  The  Christian 
Science  Journal  since  1883,  with  revisions  and  additions.  Price 
(cloth),  single  copy,  $2.25 ;  twelve  or  more  books  to  one  address, 
each,  $2.00.  Morocco,  limp,  round  corners,  gilt  edges,  con- 
venient for  pocket,  single  copy,  $4.00;  twelve  or  more  to  one 
address,  each,  $3.75.  Levant,  divinity  circuit,  leather-lined  to 
edge,  round  corners,  gilt  edges,  silk  sewed,  single  copy,  $5.00; 
twelve  or  more  to  one  address,  each,  $4.75.  The  above  prices 
are  all  prepaid.  Orders  for  Miscellaneous  Writings  in  lots  of 
twelve  or  more  to  one  address  may  include  any  or  all  of  the 
different  styles  of  binding.  No  discount  will  be  allowed  on 
orders  for  twelve  books  which  include  both  Science  and  Health 
and  Miscellaneous  Writings. 


WORKS     ON     CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 
CONCORDANCE  TO  SCIENCE  AND  HEALTH 

This  work  contains  about  eighty  thousand  references  (more  than 
ten  thousand  words  being  indexed).  It  also  contains  an  index 
to  the  Marginal  Headings,  and  a  list  of  the  Scriptural  Quotations 
in  Science  and  Health.  607  pages,  10x7,  and  addendum,  bound 
in  cloth,  marbled  edges.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  $5.00. 
Twelve  or  more  to  one  address,  $4.50  each. 

CHURCH  MANUAL 

Containing  the  By-Laws  of  The  Mother  Church.  Price,  pre- 
paid, single  copy,  $1.00;  $5.00  per  half  dozen ;  $9.00  per  dozen. 

CHRIST  AND  CHRISTMAS 

An  illustrated  poem.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  $3.00. 
Twelve  or  more  books  to  one  address,  prepaid,  each,  $2.50. 

RETROSPECTION  AND  INTROSPECTION 

A  biographical  sketch  of  the  author.  The  way  she  was  led  to 
the  discovery  of  Christian  Science  ;  its  growth  and  fundamental 
idea.  Library  edition,  95  pages,  cloth  binding,  marbled  edges. 
Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  $1.06;  $5.00  per  half  dozen  ;  $9.00 
per  dozen. 


UNITY  OF   GOOD 

It  lays  the  axe  at  the  root  of  error,  elucidating  and  enforcing 
practical  Christian  Science,  thus  aflFording  invaluable  directions 
for  all  true  Scientists.  The  following  are  some  of  the  topics 
treated :  Seedtime  and  Harvest,  Deep  Things  of  God,  The 
Ego,  Death,  Saviour's  Mission,  Suffering  from  Others' 
Thoughts,  Credo,  Matter,  Soul.  Library  edition,  64  pages, 
cloth  binding,  marbled  edges.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  65 
cents;  $3.00  per  half  dozen  ;  $5.50  per  dozen.  Leather  covers 
(pocket).  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  $1.00;  $5.00  per  half 
dozen ;  $9.00  per  dozen. 


AVORKS    ON    CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 
PULPIT   AND   PRESS 

A  unique  work  of  importance  in  the  history  and  to  the  readers 
of  Christian  Science ;  containing  Dedicatory  Sermon  delivered  at 
The  Mother  Church,  and  scintillations  from  the  press  of  that 
occasion.  132  pages,  cloth  binding.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy, 
$1.06  ;  $5.00  per  half  dozen ;   $9.00  per  dozen. 

RUDIMENTAL   DIVINE   SCIENCE 

An  interesting  and  valuable  book,  containing  a  brief  and  concise 
statement  of  Divine  Science,  alias  Christian  Science,  in  the  form 
of  questions  and  answers.  It  is  a  very  succinct  statement  of 
Christian  Science.  17  pages.  Leatherette  covers,  gilt  top. 
Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  37  cents ;  $3.00  per  dozen.  Library 
edition,  cloth  binding,  marbled  edges.  Price,  prepaid,  single 
copy,  55  cents;  $2.50  per  half  dozen ;  $4.50  per  dozen. 

NO  AND   YES 

A  brief  statement  of  very  important  points  in  Christian  Science. 
46  pages.  Pebbled  cloth  covers.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy, 
27  cents;  $2.50  per  dozen.  Library  edition,  cloth  binding, 
marbled  edges.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  60  cents ;  $3.00  per 
half  dozen;  $5. 50  per  dozen. 

MESSAGES   TO   THE   MOTHER   CHURCH 

By  Rev.  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy,  including  Christian  Science 
versus  Pantheism,  and  the  Messages  of  1900,  1901,  and  1902. 
In  one  volume.  Library  edition,  94  pages,  cloth  binding, 
marbled  edges.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  $1.56;  $7.50  per 
half  dozen  ;  $13.50  per  dozen. 

CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  versus  PANTHEISM 

The  Pastor  Emeritus'  Message  delivered  at  the  Communion 
Season  in  The  Mother  Church  in  Boston,  June,  1898.  A  clear 
and  strong  refutation  of  the  charge  that  Christian  Scientists  are 
pantheists.  15  pages.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  26  cents ; 
$2.50  per  dozen. 


WORKS     ON    CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 
MESSAGE    TO    THE   MOTHER   CHURCH 

The  annual  message  of  the  Rev.  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy  to  The 
Mother  Church  on  Communion  Sunday,  June,  1900.  Leatherette 
covers,  deckled  edges.  15  pages.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy, 
26  cents  ;  $2.50  per  dozen. 

OUR   LEADER'S   MESSAGE 

The  annual  message  of  the  Rev.  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy  to  The 
Mother  Church  on  Communion  Sunday,  June,  1901.  Deckled 
edges.  35  pages.  Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  50  cents  ;  $4.50 
per  dozen. 

COMMUNION   MESSAGE 

June,  1902.  The  annual  message  to  The  Mother  Church  on 
Communion  Sunday,  June  15,  1902,  by  the  Pastor  Emeritus, 
Rev.  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy.  Deckled  edges.  20  pages.  Price, 
prepaid,  single  copy,  50  cents ;  $4.50  per  dozen. 

TWO   SERMONS 

Christian  Healing  and  People's  Idea  of  God.  In  one  volume. 
Library  edition,  cloth  binding,  marbled  edges.  36  pages.  Price, 
prepaid,  single  copy,  60  cents ;  $3.00  per  half  dozen ;  $5.50  per 
dozen. 

CHRISTIAN   HEALING 

A  sermon  delivered  in  Boston.  19  pages.  Paper  covers. 
Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  21  cents ;  $2.00  per  dozen. 

PEOPLE'S   IDEA   OF   GOD 

A  sermon  delivered  in  Boston.  14  pages.  Paper  covers. 
Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  91  cents ;  $2.00  per  dozen. 

FEED   3IY  SHEEP 

Words  by  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy.  Music  by  Lyman  F.  Brackett 
Price,  prepaid,  single  copy,  50  cents  ;  $5.00  per  dozen. 

ALLISON   V.   STEWART,  Publisher 
Faoiouth  and  St.  Paul  Streets  BOSTON,  U.  S.  A. 


rvTVF.R^'^'rY  (^ 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN     INITIAL     FINE     OF     25     CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


APR  27t933 


^90cV68il' 


wiAY  31  Abba 


^?^ 


30 


\93^ 


FEB  17  1941 
JUN  25  i942 

JUL  22  1942 

50ct'55Tf 
OCT  6    ^^55\-\i 


J/iiv^aigg/ 


M 


LD  21-50m-l,'3J 


iC144132 


Cat>131ED55 


